Heel Face Turn - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Face Turn

And what happened then?
Well, in Whoville, they say,
The Grinch's small heart
Grew three sizes that day.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

I knew that you hadn't really betrayed me. You wouldn't do that. You see? You know me better than Tamahome does, because I've known you since we were little kids together. It's just hurt so much. It's like I was getting filthier and filthier, and there didn't seem to be any room for me in your life once Tamahome appeared.

- Yui Hongo, Fushigi Yuugi.

Cornelia! Oh, Cornelia, I'm so sorry!

- Elyon Brown, WITCH

In Professional Wrestling, an evil wrestler (a "heel") sometimes has a change of heart and becomes good, thereby becoming a "babyface". The term for this is "Heel Face Turn." Magazines and other promotional material from the various wrestling leagues comment on various wrestlers' changes in alignment nearly as frequently as they actually cover events in the ring themselves.

It doesn't just happen in Professional Wrestling, either. In other genres, it means "bad guy turns good." This usually makes for a good plot, for three reasons:

It lets them reintroduce the villain as a "darker, edgier" hero.
It reinforces our notion of the inherent goodness within people.
It prevents the Worthy Opponent from falling victim to What A Senseless Waste Of Human Life.

An encounter with The Messiah, Turn The Other Cheek, a Pet The Dog moment, An Aesop, Deliver Us From Evil, Slap Slap Kiss, spending quality time with one's Morality Pet, discovering that Machiavelli Was Wrong or being the target of Help Face Turn by a Magnetic Hero or a Bad Boss can all cause a villain to reconsider his or her evil ways. Sadly, all too frequently Redemption Equals Death... (if there's any redeeming to be had) and when it doesn't, someone still needs to draw that Get Out Of Jail Free Card.

A very common fate for a female character in any evil group.

Compare the Reverse Mole, who is secretly working for the good guys all along.

The inverse of Face Heel Turn.

It has one subtrope:

Heel Face Mind Screw, more or less the opposite of Brainwashed And Crazy.

Examples:

Anime

Nephrite and the Amazon Trio, in different seasons of Sailor Moon.
- Also the Ayakashi Sisters and the Amazoness Quartet. (In the manga, the Quartet even turn out to actually be Sailor Senshi.)
- Saphir and his brother Demando too.
- And half of the other villains too. Half the time they even survive it. Of course, the series is a giant showcase for The Power Of Love.
There are several Heel and Face turns in Gundam Seed. Loyalties and what one fights for are driving themes for the entire series, in fact.
Amiboshi and Yui from Fushigi Yuugi.
Digimon has one every year: season one has Gatomon, season two has Ken, season three has Beelzemon (Beelzebumon), season four has Kouichi, and season five has Keenan.
- Season 3 also has a human undergo the change: Yamaki (the Hypnos guy) goes from being defined by his hatred of the "Wild Ones" to a sympathetic behind-the-action helper.
At least one major villain or rival (but usually more) per season in Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh GX; balanced by the fact that the opposite is none too rare, either.
Used twice in Naruto's "Land of Waves" arc. Traitorous ninja Zabuza and his androgynous young henchman Haku, whom he habitually mistreats, have been hired by gangster Gato to stop the Land of Waves villagers from building a bridge that will be economically vital to their island. Naruto and his friends are sent to make sure the bridge gets built. When Haku seems to kill Sasuke, Naruto swears Revenge until he learns of Haku's tragic past, which calms him down. (Besides, Haku made sure that Sasuke is Not Quite Dead.) Then, Haku does a Heroic Sacrifice to save Zabuza, and the rogue ninja's guilt over his abuse of his dead partner causes him to Freak Out; Zabuza switches sides, killing Gato before getting killed himself.]
- Twice in the "Land of Waves" arc, but far more frequently later. Neji Hyuga, who is half-inspired by Naruto's (an obvious The Messiah) victory into rethinking his fatalistic Jerk Ass -itude and goes on to claim that Naruto saved him. Or Gaara, who is so stunned by Naruto's empathy and suckerpunch, that he stops living to kill people and begins living to help people, enough to become the Kazekage!
Almost every villain who is not a Big Bad (most of the time) on Dragonball Z. This is literally personified in the villain Dabura. This is mostly to show off The Power Of Friendship.
- Vegeta's constant alignment switching might even be a Lampshade Hanging on the whole phenomena as most, if not all, of Goku's allies are former enemies with Vegeta being the most conflicted of them all as well as his Great Rival.
Ayaka Steiger in Kurau Phantom Memory turns from the main bad chasing the protagonists to their biggest ally after discovering that her boss ordered the murder of her father.
Nearly every villain in Kero Kero Chime. In fact, in a bizarre and random musical sequence in the last episode, Demon King Bao, the Sealed Evil In A Can who turns out to be the true reason most of the Hebizoku and Kaeruzoku disappeared 10 years ago, as he took them with him upon being banished, reveals that he's completely reformed, and he and his former enemies like being Trapped In Another World, as it's allowed them to become such great friends.
This happens in Kinnikuman . A LOT. To the point where at least 3 Big Bads and 2 Dragons have done. Ironically, two have gone to do Face Heel Turns in the sequel series, Kinnikuman Nisei , which features even MORE Heel Face Turns.
- Considering that the series is based on pro wrestling this is only appropriate.
Practically every sympathetic villain Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha does this. To put it in perspective, the only non-new good guy that got screen time in the third Season who didn't start out as a villain in one way or another is Nanoha herself.
- A case could be made for Chrono, Lindy and Yuuno, but they barely appear.
Princess Tutu has several characters who follow this trope. In the first season, it's Fakir (sort of) and Edel. And towards the end of the series Rue discovers that the Raven is not her true father, and risks her life to save Mytho.
Skyers 5 or perhaps its sequel Shin Skyers 5, I am not certain]] did use this trope to good effect.
Rokudo Mukuro in Katekyo Hitman Reborn, but it only half counts because his Heel Face Turn coincides with his possession of Chrome Dokuro's body
In D Gray Man, General Cross can turn Akuma good. This isn't perfect; they have trouble rejecting explicit orders from the Millenuim Earl. To compensate, Cross has these Akuma rigged to self-destruct instead of killing people.
Pixy Misa in Magical Project S. Considering her concept, it was pretty much inevitable.
The Big Bad of Mahoromatic's first season becomes a reluctant hanger-on in the second.
- Ryuga wasn't really a Big Bad, but a rival to Mahoro. Difference is motivation. A better example of this is Minawa from the second season, who is The Mole until her turn She realizes she has a heart after she lured Mahoro to Management's fortress, using Suguru as bait. A heart (ability to have enotions) was the prize the real Big Bads dangled in front of her. She didn't realize she'd get one through The Power Of Love, simply by staying with Mahoro and Suguru. She is then instrumental in freeing Mahoro from the trap she herself lured Mahoro into. This also catalyzes the end of the series, as it cuts Mahoro's life short, well short of the original deadline.
In Fate Stay Night, Ilya is the main threat for the first half of the series, but she becomes an ally when her monstrous Servant Berserker is killed. (She couldn't keep fighting at that point, but that didn't mean she had to join the nakama.) In the Heaven's Feel scenario, she goes so far as to sacrifice herself for Shirou in the Good End.
Code Geass, done by Orange.
- Finally done by Kururugi Suzaku, at the end of episode 21, where he showed up alongside Emperor Lelouch. Of course this being Geass this could be a Face Heel Turn depending on how if you believe the new Britannian emperor is an Anti-Hero or an Anti Villain. Really after Shirley's death their are no good side or bad side, just a bad side, and an even worse side.
- Also Nina Einstein, resident Psycho Lesbian racist, seeing that instead of killing the millions of Japanese she hated, her weapon killed 10 million Britannians. She sides with the man she spent 22-something episodes hating, it was either that or side with the Japanese.
Scar and Lust both have one in the Full Metal Alchemist anime, however in both cases Redemption Equals Death. Scar and Greed have one in the manga, with both surviving so far, but chances are good both survive.
Sesshomarou in Inu Yasha went from a human hating emotionless jerk who wanted to kill his own brother to a feircely protective sibling and mentor after taking in a (very cute) orphaned human girl and having to rely on Inu Yasha's help after she's kidnapped, proving to Sesshomarou that he was wrong about Inu Yasha and joining his team.
Bad Bird in Samurai Pizza Cats who joins up with the good guys after a speech from Speedy saying that if Bad Bird helps Cheese win, everyone in Little Tokyo dies, including Bad Bird's girlfriend.
Rocket from Ginga Densetsu Weed starts off as one of Hougen's spies but after about 3 episodes, he becomes one of the nicest dogs in Weed's pack.
Pretty much all the villains in Shugo Chara. Yuu Nikaidou was a case of Defeat Means Friendship after Amu foiled his plan to create an Embryo, which is the Mac Guffin of the series. Kairi Sanjo was convinced by Amu to do his Heel Face Turn in a The Power Of Friendship / The Power Of Love moment. Utau Hoshina realized she didn't want to sing to ruin people's dreams, but that she wanted to sing to make people happy. Yukari Sanjo was more or less another case of Defeat Means Friendship. And the latest villain, Lulu, seems to be succumbing to The Power Of Friendship.
Adette Kistler from Overman King Gainer joins the Exodus once she is forced to stay in the city units for a while. She eventually even takes command of her own group of fighters.
Creed from Black Cat does this in the anime, though this was not present at all in the manga. Which makes it all the weirder why they decided to make him more perverted and depraved than in the manga.
Viral from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann goes from being the hero's rival to being The Lancer. Lordgenome himself also "joins," but in this case it's just a bio-computer whose core is his disembodied head. He does later regain his full memory, though, and fights alongside the heroes in the final battle.
Loads of villains in Fairy Tail go through this. You can count on at least one Heel Face Turn per every major arc, and sometimes it happens to most of the current enemy team. Sometimes this is due to The Power Of Friendship. Sometimes due to the villains being not that villainous to begin with, simply misguided or deceived.
In Claymore, Isley does this during the timeskip when he was living with Priscilla and Raki. Too bad the audience only finds out right before his death.
In Gundam 00, A-LAWS members Kati Mannequin and Patrick Colasour vanished after the Time Skip. Then they come back under the Katharon to help the Celestial Being attacking the A-LAWS, while reciting just how corrupted the A-LAWS is, the reason of their defection.
Now And Then Here And There has two of these: Lala Ru and Abelia
Umezawa Masahiko in Hajime No Ippo, turns from a bully who constantly picked on Ippo to a faithful fan. However, Umezawa has one of the best Character Developments in the show.
Fresh Pretty Cure has been confirmed to have one later on. BUT WAIT! IT GETS BETTER! The person who does said Heel Face Turn actually turns out to be Cure Passion, the Fourth Ranger to the Cures!
Bleach is FULL of these.

Comic Books

Batman villainess Catwoman has since reformed and become more of a hero than a villain, often teaming up with Batman on his missions. While this is not a problem as such (many considered it a natural evolution of the character and were happy with it), it was more the sudden retcon that explained WHY she changed people didn't like: she was mindwiped by Zatanna. Because truly no-one is capable of seeing their faults and trying to make up for it, and only brainwashing will do.
- The Catwoman of Earth-Two, an alternate universe in The DCU, also turned over a new leaf when she recovered from Amnesia. Horrified she was willing to go to jail for the crimes she had committed. When Batman sprung her from jail to help him, she revealed that she had lied; she had actually chosen to be a villain and then chosen to reform because she realized that it was her only chance for a normal life. (Whereupon they fell in love, got married, and had a daughter, Huntress.)
Flash villains the Pied Piper and the Trickster both reformed. The Pied Piper had always been the sort of villain who had stolen money for orphanages. The Trickster had pulled off a Deal With The Devil and escaped, and reformed because he couldn't do anything to top that, and didn't want to go to Hell when he died, after his trick. A recent apparent Face Heel Turn was actually an attempt to pull off a Fake Defector trick — which turned tragic when they appeared to be in on the death of Bart Allen, the Flash. The Trickster is now dead, but the Pied Piper is facing Reformed But Rejected,

Film

The James Bond movies have a few: May Day in A View To A Kill, Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever, Dr. Kutze in Thunderball and Jaws in Moonraker.
- And so examples also appear in the Bond parodies/knockoffs Our Man Flint and In Like Flint.
Darth Vader. In Return of the Jedi. If the troper has to explain this one you've been living under a rock the last 30 years.
Godzilla went from city-destroying villain to world-saving hero during the 1960s-1970s. His Heel Face Turn occured when Mothra convinced him and Rodan to fight King Ghidorah in the 1964 film Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster
- Likewise, there's Battra, who, sadly ends up dying while trying to stop Godzilla.
Blazing Saddles.
- Lili Von Shtupp (Hedley Lamaar's henchwoman). Ordered to "seduce and abandon the sheriff of Rock Ridge", instead she falls for him and goes over to his side.
- Mongo (Taggart's henchman) turns to the side of Good after Sheriff Bart blows him up with a Candygram bomb. ("Sheriff first man ever whip Mongo! Mongo impressed!")
  - But will it last? Remember, Mongo only pawn in game of life!
An example of a Heel Face Turn already accomplished by the time of the story is that of the convict in The Dark Knight who threw the detonator out the porthole.
Terminator 2: The reprogrammed T-101
Diego in Ice Age.
Lilo And Stitch. First Stitch himself, and then Jumba.
- In the spin-off animated series, each episode focuses on Lilo and Stich's attempts to Heel Face Turn-ify one of the other 624 escaped experiments.
In John Ford's The Quiet Man, John Wayne and Victor Mclaglen have a mutual animosity that culminates in the queen mother of all drunken fistfights; no sooner has the donnybrook ended than the two men become the best of friends.
The truly abysmal Two of a Kind, designed as the comeback film for the Olivia Newton-John / John Travolta duo, features probably the single most jarring and unbelievable Heel Face Turn in the history of film: Satan himself! .
The Operative undergoes one of these at the end of Serenity when he discovers the truth behind the secret of Miranda, and just what the utopia he has been fighting for all this time would really look like.
Sorsha in Willow
A slow, detailed one of these is roughly the entire plot of the German film The Lives Of Others (Das Leben der Anderen).
Rainbow Randolph in Death To Smoochy.
Zangief in the Street Fighter movie is mainly the Comic Relief of everyone in Shadaloo, but after Dee Jay informs him that Bison is "the bad guy", he helps the heroes escape. Keep in mind that Zangief and Dee Jay weren't evil in the games.

Literature

Ebenezer Scrooge.
The Grinch at the end of How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Dolokhov in War And Peace goes from being a Manipulative Bastard of a Humphrey, something of a minor antagonist, to the trusted lieutenant of Vaska Denisov as the Russians chase the retreating French.
- It's kind of a partial subversion, though, as Dolokhov, although brave, appears to be the same amoral asshole as usual ( witness his reaction to the death of the little Rostov ) - he is just putting is evil badassery to a good use.
In Fred Saberhagen's trilogy Empire of the East, Lord Chup served the evil Empire of the title faithfully ... until one of its warlords demanded: "You must be for once not brave, but cowardly.... It will be difficult only once. You must learn to cause pain, for the sake of nothing but causing pain. Only thus will you be bound to us entirely." Then he killed off a major demon, turning the tide of a critical battle.
Harry Dresden refers this as the 'Vader Effect'. He is accused of it himself on several occasions, most notably when he joins the Wardens, the quasi-military magical police who have been on his back since his youth despite not actually changing sides.
Angelina is the brilliant, beautiful, and totally psychopathic villainess of The Stainless Steel Rat. After she is captured and the psych-techs have worked on her, she marries the hero and becomes an agent of the Special Corp who doesn't enjoy killing. As much.
What!? Mara Jade hasn't been mentioned yet? She went from wanting to kill Luke to marrying him. That makes her Heel Face Turn queen.
Edmund in King Lear executes a pretty epic heel face turn, going from helping to plot the death of the play's most sympathetic characters to (ineffectually) attempting to save them, so this one is definitely Older Than Steam: "I pant for life; some good I mean to do/Despite of mine own nature."
The thief on the cross who asks Jesus' fogiveness and is given it.
Severus Snape is finally revealed to have heel-faced all along at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Subverted strangely in Montmorency. The titular character starts out as a liar, thief, almost a con-man, but by the end of the first book he's happily working for the British government, alongside Fox-Selwyn. However, he's also Scarper, who remains a problem.

Live Action TV

Dalek Caan in Doctor Who. He does a face turn after seeing "the whole of time and space" and bearing witness to the destruction and devastation that his species have caused throughout history.
G'Kar started out the Babylon 5 Myth Arc looking deceptively like the heavy, and evolved into the conscience of the entire Interstellar Alliance. This was intentional misdirection of the audience. However, the Minbari warrior caste leader Neroon was a true Heel Face Turn.
- There was nothing 'deceptive' about G'Kar's 'heavy' status ... his major role in the (pilot?) movie for the series was to try and kill the commander of Babylon 5, a man who was not only the show's protagonist, but the leader of the place that was the galaxy's main recourse for diplomacy and peaceful negotiation. G'Kar did have true Heel Face Turn, essentially evolving from a Well Intentioned Extremist to something akin to The Messiah.
- It's debatable if Neroon was ever genuinely evil. He didn't side with the Shadows or engage in any other severe acts tending particularly strongly towards the evil end of the moral balance established in the series.
  - Then again, he did try and kill Delenn (sort of), which would supposedly have seriously destabilised his homeworld.
  - He tried to kill Delenn because he was worried she was a Well Intentioned Extremist, and the Rangers (being a military force under the direct control of a religious caste member) was in itself potentially dangerous.
Battlestar Galactica: Athena and Caprica-Six. Later, the Leobens, Sixes, and Sharons as a whole. Also, Lt. Kelly during the mutiny.
Lost: As shown in flashback, Juliet had actually gotten sick of the Others some time before she was even introduced on the show. She took the first opportunity she could (being made The Mole) to betray Ben.
Of course there's Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. On top of that, we have Faith, who did a Face Heel Turn first, then came back, and Wesley, who appeared (to the team) to do a Face Heel Turn before later coming back.
- Andrew got one in Season Seven, motivated primarily by his fear of Buffy and her gang.
Damar, Gul Dukat's Dragon on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, stays on with the Dominion after Dukat goes off to do his own thing. Eventually, though, he realizes the Dominion are using Cardassia, and starts a resistance movement. He even winds up taking terrorist lessons from old enemy Kira Nerys.
Happens fairly often in Power Rangers. Sixth Rangers such as original Green Ranger Tommy and Titanium Ranger Ryan have started out evil. In Space actually had the Big Bad, Astronema, briefly join the rangers after finding out that The Hero Andros was her long-lost brother. While she originally intended to betray the Space Rangers and thus secure her place as Dark Specter's chosen heir, she ended up siding with them, and was even declared an honorary Power Ranger herself. While Dark Specter and Darkonda recaptured and brainwashed her into an even more evil Astronema v2.0, she was restored to her true self, Karone, and later took over the position of Lost Galaxy Pink Ranger.
Both Crais, and then Scorpius start off in pursuit of our heroes before they end up joining the crew in Farscape.
Cole Turner/Belthazor of Charmed had more Heel/Face Face/Heel turns than some entire shows.
Number Two in The Prisoner. Well, one of them. The new Number Two.
Teal'c, in the pilot of Stargate SG-1.
Sylar on Heroes had the shortest Heel Face Turn in recent memory, lasting only partway through season 3.
Occasionally used in the 60s spy series The Man From UNCLE. Sometimes the U.N.C.L.E. agents manage to subvert a THRUSH operative into working for them (e.g., the second season episode "The Arabian Affair", where Solo informs a THRUSH minion who is due to retire that THRUSH liquidates retired minions to insure their permanent silence), whereas other times the villain comes over to the good side for his own reasons (e.g., the second season episode "The King of Diamonds Affair", where diamond thief Rafael Delgado decides to betray his organized criminal allies, free Solo and the Girl Of The Week, and help them escape).
30 Rock uses this in a Show Within A Show that Jack's girlfriend's grandmother watches. The villain, Generalissimo, looks exactly like Jack, so Jack uses Executive Meddling to make the Generalissimo a good man who loves old Puerto Rican women, scratching lottery tickets, and going to McDonald's to order only coffee.

Professional Wrestling

A staple of Professional Wrestling, along with its cousin, the Face Heel Turn.
- Spoofed well by The Onion in this piece.

Video Games

You can talk the villain in Chrono Trigger, Magus, into joining you. However, this is completely optional. It should also be noted that this particular Heel Face Turn doesn't come about because of a change of heart on Magus' part, but the realization that he could achieve his goals by working with the heroes. By the time the option to have him join comes about, his intent and motivation have been revealed and he's more of an Anti Villain than a full-fledged villain.
- In its sequel, Chrono Cross, many characters you can eventually play are former bosses. One will even apologize for fighting you earlier in the game.
In Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Hawke and Lash come to the Allied Nations' aid after being saved by them.
- Tasha and Gage reluctantly join the Rubinelle Army in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin following the death of their original commander, Forsythe, when Will decides not to kill them.
Alma from the Xbox remake of Ninja Gaiden fights Ryu twice, proving to be a difficult foe both times. However, when Doku, the Dragon, attempts to sacrifice Alma's twin sister Rachel, Alma has a change of heart and throws herself in the way of Doku's blade.
The good character Faust from Guilty Gear X onward is incredibly strongly implied, but not yet directly stated, to be the villainous character Dr. Baldhead from the first game in the series, after undergoing a Heel Face Turn and taking a new identity.
The Arbiter in Halo 2 initially works against the humans to atone himself in the eyes of the Covenant Prophets. When the AI 343 Guilty Spark reveals to him the truth about the Great Journey they want to bring about, namely that it will destroy all life on a galactic scale, he reluctantly sides with the humans.
- By the end of the trilogy, though, he's an eager ally. The rest of the Elites...eh, not so much.
Vivian, one of the Shadow Sirens working for the Big Bad in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, joins up with Mario after he's kind to her.
- Count Bleck, O'Chunks, Mimi, and Nastasia in Super Paper Mario.
Shiro Amakusa Tokisada from Samurai Shodown turns into a good spirit in Samurai Shodown IV.
Magnus Armstrong, one of the antagonists from No One Lives Forever is convinced to join the good guys in the sequel, No One Lives Forever: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way.
Happens all the time in Super Robot Wars, if a character has the least bit of sympathy he will usually do a Heel Face Turn. This is so common that in Original Generation 2 they start Lampshading it by mentioning that they can except a recent convert by mentioning all the other people who have done it.
- In Destiny, some could only join if they were convinced Glacies, Wintos, Margue, Chronicle, Katajina, Roze, Gabil. Haman Karn of all people can join you if Judau, Char, and Camille rack up an obscene number of kills. It's nearly impossible on your first playthrough, but New Game Plus all but assures it on later runs.
- While it is very common in OG, this troper thought that the one most notable and most impressive Heel Face Turn would be the one pulled by Axel Almer in OG Gaiden. He doesn't just do normal defection like the others, he shows his Heel Face Turn by saving a Brainwashed And Crazy Lamia, who was once thought to be dead and was now about to die again and sticking a metaphorical knife to the team for failing to save her again. So awesome that this scene becomes Axel's definitive Crowning Moment Of Awesome, and also counts as a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming as he lets go of his hatred for Artificial Human in general, and while he doesn't officially join the group, he has forever earned the trust of the heroes as a good guy.
- Super Robot Wars 3 kickstarted this trend by letting Anavel Gato join up if you take a certain route through the game.
- Master Asia in Advance.
Before Ghestal dies, he has a small epiphany in Final Fantasy VI.
In Guild Wars: Nightfall General Morgahn is one of Varesh Ossa's generals and quite devoted to his religion, and tolerant of Varesh's. While he appears to be a villain who is not actually evil, just loyal, he actually makes a heel-face-turn and joins the player character, and even being required to face Varesh Ossa.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl The Ancient Minister is thought to be the remorseless leader of the Subspace Army, but actually regrets his actions. In truth he isn't the true mastermind, and thus lost control of of his R.O.B. Squad when Ganondorf stepped in to complete the job of destroying the world with Subspace Bombs. The Ancient Minister then interferes, only to be attacked. It is then his true form is revealed, a R.O.B. From there is only referred to as such and becomes playable.
- To be fair, the villains in the Subspace Emissary mode who are also playable characters do join up to fight the last boss. It doesn't help that the Big Bad pulled a 'You are of no more use to me' on them all.
Sparda in Devil May Cry, who "woke up to justice."
- We've replaced Sparda's unbidden evil with Folger's Crystals. Let's see if he notices...
Raiden, a cruel, gigantic wrestler from the Fatal Fury series of fighting games (and Capcom vs. SNK 2), eventually underwent a literal Heel Face Turn, taking off his mask and becoming the benevolent Big Bear. The fact that wrestling is fake has become a little too real for him
"First you gimme some lame special op and make me snipe my friends, and now you gonna pick on a defenseless Player?! Don't you Reapers have any honor?! Maybe the Composer's down widdat, BUT I AIN'T HIM!"
- This one is a Heel Face Revolving Door of sorts, because Beat starts as a player, becomes a Reaper and a villain, but then performs the Heel Face Turn for the last Game.
After royally kicking your ass several times in Final Fantasy IX, General Beatrix joins your party for a couple fights.
- An unusual, less extreme example, but it counts. Steiner, even though he's in your party for a greater portion of the game, spends most of his time trying to sabotage the party and deliver Dagger back to the queen. Zidane and the others win his loyalty, eventually.
Happens in every Fire Emblem game, sometimes more frequently than others. Usually you have to talk to the recruitable enemy with a certain character, but sometimes a former villain will automatically join your side. (FE6 had Miledy and Douglas, (FE7) had Heath and Vaida, (FE8) had Duessel and Amelia, and FE9 had Jill, Muarim, and Ena.)
Achenar in Myst IV Revelation
In the Persona 2 games, this happens quite a bit, although most of them don't end up joining the party, just being good guys instead of bad guys. In Innocent Sin, Jun does this after breaking free of Nyarlathotep's influence. As well, Principal Hannya would either die or end up pulling a Heel Face Turn depending on a rumor the protagonist ended up starting with a throwaway dialogue choice. Finally, depending on choices, Anna Yoshizaka would either pull a Heel Face Turn or be replaced by a Shadow counterpart created by Nyarlathotep. In Eternal Punishment, many of the previous villains were forced into Heel Face Turns as part of the Make A Better World; however, Tatsuya Sudou was so deranged and irredeemable that he was instead imprisoned in a mental institution... and Ginji's Heel Face Turn doesn't end up sticking as he is pulled back into essentially the same role he played the first time around.
Judith Mossman in Half Life 2. At first she seems to be one of the good guys, but then it is revealed that she is actually working for Dr. Breen. At the end, she pulls a Heel Face Turn and betrays Breen.
Klungo in Banjo-Tooie, after he realizes battling with Banjo and Kazooie is making him less and less handsome, and now Mrs. Klungo won't want him anymore!
Even final bosses can get into this. In the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV, a 6th chapter is added in which allows you to revive Rose, and use The Power Of Love to convince Psaro the Manslayer (the aforementioned final boss) to not only stop his plans for world domination/destruction, but also to join your team!
Knights of the Ebon Blade.
Deus Ex has Daedalus, an AI programmed by MJ12 to hunt down terrorist groups who might threaten their regime. Unfortunately for them, when the AI examined his creators and their actions, he classified them as a terrorist organisation themselves and left to help the player bring them down.
Saki from the Oneechanbara series. Initially the villain, she's revealed to have a pretty good excuse.. and kidnapped by Eva. After Aya rescues her, she stops trying to kill Aya and joins her.
Meliadoul in Final Fantasy Tactics. (Too bad this happens after Orlandu's already joined, however.) Also, Mediators can use their Invite skill on most enemies, recruiting them on the spot to your cause. (Well, with a bit of luck, anyway.)
Axel from Kingdom Hearts. If only to see Roxas again.
I am quite sad to note that nobody seems to have played The Legend of Dragoon, quite possibly the greatest RPG of all time. Of course, that's my opinion. But, enough spamming for the game, the character Lloyd has his Heel Face Turn moment at the end of the game, just before he dies, giving Dart the Dragon Buster Sword and Divine Dragoon Spirit as proof.
Captain Qwark in the Ratchet And Clank games is a Fake Ultimate Hero, who periodically sells out to villains or fakes his own death to avoid the shooting, leaving Ratchet to do the hard yards. Until Ratchet III: Up Your Arsenal, in which he comes right out of nowhere in a Big Damn Heroes moment to shoot Dr. Nefarious' Humongous Mecha.
Your Mileage May Vary, but this troper feels that the company EA has done one this generation, thanks to games like Boom Blox, Dead Space, and Henry Hatsworth.
Sly, in Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. Although it is a rather speedy one at that, because he gets beaten once, then is saved on another occasion, and before you know it - he's handing Ty the Doomerang

Web Comics

In Girl Genius, Lucretia decided to reform when Bill Heterodyne asked her to marry him. She knew she could do it because she was in love and there had to be a reason why they always won.[1]
- Given recent evidence, however, that Lucrezia was/is The Other (and, thus, responsible for wiping out whole Houses of Sparks, general mass murder, and the like) it doesn't seem like it stuck. Although the fact that she has to vanish Klaus to "remove temptation" kinda makes it dubious whether it would've stuck to begin with.
El Goonish Shive. After she was created Ellen tried to be a villain but wasn't very good at it. She eventually became a Hero.
Angel Moxie: Tristan. She (yes, she) turned good because the Big Bad screwed her over, though it's obvious that Tristan wasn't exactly evil in the first place, just easily manipulated. In an unusual turn, it's revealed she was one of the Legendary Heroes from the start.
Despite being pretty unlucky at love, Torg from Sluggy Freelance seems to have this effect on the ladies:
- He turned Aylee from an amoral, man-eating alien into a rather pleasant friend and employee who only occasionally ate human flesh.
- He was the first person to befriend the demon Mosp since her transformation, leading her to rebel against Lord Horribus.
- It takes some time and some pretty hefty promises on his part, but Torg eventually gets Ax Crazy, love-sick assassin Oasis to give up killing people ... well, unless she decides they're bad guys. Still, for her, being an ultra-violent vigilante is a huge step forward.
Order Of The Stick: Therkla...before we're reminded Redemption Equals Death.
Black Mage periodically comes close, but as soon as Fighter says something knife-worthy, he jumps right back to his Heel role.

Web Original

Sonia and Dr. Hart in lonelygirl15.
Fair numbers of this happen in Survival Of The Fittest. Mostly, it is the result of a 'player' stopping killing their fellows, usually due to a guilty conscience.
- Hawley Faust of the first game, although he was semi-convinced instead of spontaneously deciding to quit.
- Julie Mikan in V3. She set out to actively play, but after killing Owen Fontaine realised she didn't have what it takes and became a heroic character instead.
- Dominica Sharpiro, also of V3. A less conventional example in that she made the switch purely on the chance the escape plan of the group she joined would succeed.
- Sharon Kulikov, similarly to Julie, originally decides to play indiscriminately, but upon realizing that she can't bring herself to do that she resolves to only target other players.
- The most recent example is probably Bobby Jacks, although he was pretty shaken up about killing other people.
- Laeil Burbank, who started off as a vengeful Psycho Lesbian, until she pissed off an even bigger player who...decided to have some fun with her. After she's rescued, by someone who's best friend she'd killed (though it was a Mercy Kill), punched in the face, and told that if she ever saw him again, she'd kill him no less, she decides that she's through with being an indiscriminate killer (unfortunately, she doesn't survive for very long after that.)
Possibly The New Adventures Of Captain S: in the last episode of the first season, NES digs up a Sega Menacer for Captain S to use against Game Genie (NES's former master). Although, until season 2 is released, the doubt remains that NES actually helped Captain S to kill Game Genie because he just wants to take Game Genie's place as the ruler of Videoland.
In most of the Madness Combat shorts, Jeebus is the enemy of the protagonist, Hank. However, in Part 8, he is featured as trying to stop the Mooks and new Big Bad.

Western Animation

Raimundo in Xiaolin Showdown, though that's after he did a Face Heel Turn. He actually does suffer some consequences and trust issues afterwards because of it.
Brilliantly subverted in Avatar The Last Airbender: Prince Zuko is given tons of reasons to change sides in the second season finale, including the "encounter with The Messiah," Katara, after being put through hell all season:... and then doesn't. Wham! The results of that decision prompt him into a genuine Heel Face Turn half a season later in "Day of the Black Sun," and Zuko being Zuko, he takes the time for Calling The Old Man Out before he leaves. So a Double Subversion, all in all.
- Mai and Ty Lee follow suit in "Boiling Rock". Mai's especially was epic, showing up like a Big Damn Hero and pulling off a Crowning Moment Of Awesome, while Ty Lee's just came straight from behind a tree (though disabling Azula is still awesome).
- In a minor case, by the time that Gondor Calls For Aid, The Boulder and The Hippo had decided to quit working for Xin Fu and join the army. What weird is it's a Heel Face Turn from two heels that played faces in their world's equivalent of Professional Wrestling.
Teen Titans has Terra in season two, but this is after a Face Heel Turn, then returning to be The Mole to totally screw over the Titans and help Slade achieve near victory. Heck, she's the one who ends up killing Slade, but ends up performing a Heroic Sacrifice proving that Redemption Equals Death (or Redemption Equals Turning To Stone...it is a children/family show, after all). Jinx also performs a Heel Face Turn towards the end of season five, thanks to being thrown into a Dating Catwoman-ish scenario with Kid Flash.
Elyon Brown in WITCH.
Transformers: Beast Wars has a number of examples. Dinobot and Silverbolt spent relatively little screen time as heels, but Dinobot was a pretty slagging well-done heel. More literal examples are: In the third season, Blackarachnia, and, near the end of the series finale, Dinobot's Transmetal 2 clone.
Iago from Disney's Aladdin. Not that he's all heroic, but his conscience does get the better of him on a number of occasions. He grumbles over it a lot.
- The series also gives us Stalker With A Crush Sadira, who gets over her crush on Aladdin and becomes a friend of the main characters even though she had once swapped places with Jasmine, basically taking over Agrabah. And Queen Hippsodeth, who kidnaps Jasmine for her all-female warrior nation and then becomes Agrabah's ally because she admires the sultan for being the first person who could defeat her. None of the male villains change sides though.
  - There are some male turns in the series. There was the Muchtar(sp?), and Aladdin's old friend Amal.
Tohru and Viper in Jackie Chan Adventures.
Kevin Levin in Ben 10, at the beginning of the Ben 10 Alien Force sequel series.
- And, at the end of the second season, the Highbreed.
Kronk, the Punch Clock Villain in The Emperors New Groove switches sides after his boss Yzma's irate You Have Failed Me speech culminates with an attack on his beloved spinach-puff recipe.
Rogue in X-Men Evolution. The episode where she does this is one long Crowning Moment Of Awesome for her.
Subverted with Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda, who after finally hearing his father-figure tell him he's proud of him, and he's sorry, very clearly wavers before rejecting the overture and remaining unrepentant. This probably also counts as his What An Idiot moment, since it proves he has still learned nothing, although this editor actually found it all the more tragic and painful because of it.
In The Raccoons, this trope is at the soul of the Character Development of Cyril Sneer who gradually evolves from a Corrupt Corporate Executive to largely a nice guy.
In Re Boot, Hack n Slash is a prominent example, joining the protagonists after realizing Megabyte was simply too evil. Hexadecimal also undergoes profound change in the latter seasons.
In Liberty's Kids Sarah went from a fierce Loyalist to an American Patriot after seeing firsthand what the Americans went through in their fight for liberty.
The Fairly Oddparents: Mark Chang goes from fighting Timmy every time they meet to relying on him to hide him on Earth to avoid his Arranged Marriage.

Real Life

See the story of John Newton, the slave-trader who turned abolitionist after a religious conversion — author of "Amazing Grace"; biopicted in the 2006 film of that name. See also John Perkins, author of the tell-all Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.
- And then there's Stephen Douglas, who died early into the Civil War but who, between Lincoln's election and his own death, did all he could to be The Atoner for the Union side.
Bartoleme de las Casas, who had been your standard New World settler and landowner who became disgusted with the brutal treatment of the natives, became a priest and spent decades writing and lobbying as an opponent of Spanish Colonialism, and ad advocate of native rights. Much of the Black Legend of the Spanish colonials was the result of his works being translated and adapted by Spain's enemies.
Saul from the New Testament (not to be confused with the king of Israel from the Old Testament) who persecuted Christians until he had an epileptic seizure and became one of the most influential Christians himself. You might know him as The Apostle Paul.
- The Biblical account describes this as a literal divine visitation (not a seizure, unless that's a nonreligious retcon a la Jesus being Only Mostly Dead). The Apostle Peter has a similar experience that causes him to do a Heel Face Turn on the issue of preaching to Gentiles. Heel Face Turns due to direct divine intervention are somewhat common in both the Old and New Testaments (also see Balaam son of Beor).
Alabama governor George Wallace went from an arch segregationist to offering reward money for the identity of the murderer of a civil rights leader.
- Wallace was actually just in it for himself (perhaps the Grima Wormtongue of the anti-Civil Rights movement) and not an ideologue. In 1954 his reelection prospects were shaky because he was seen as too liberal and conciliatory to the Civil Rights movement for his racist constituency, so he took their side in the Little Rock case to ensure reelection. Later on he expressed real regret at having done so—not because he saw the light about racism, but because he realized that he had chosen short-term gain (reelection) over long-term gain (not going down in history as a real jerkass). In fact, he was reelected several times and changed with the times, overseeing the integration of his state's schools with little incident once it was politically safe to.
Libyan head Muammar al-Gadaffi/Quadafi/Abrakadabra, once the West's numero uno terrorist boogeyman, seems to have taken steps to mend his image in recent years.
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, famously known as "Colonel Karuna," the former deputy leader of the terrorist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam defected from said organization in March 2004 alleging they were ignoring the interests of the eastern Tamil people in the war-ravaged island nation of Sri Lanka. His defection split the organization in half, weakening it while his group became the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (Tamil People's Liberation Tigers) political party. In 2009, he was appointed Minister of National Integration by President Mahinda Rajapakse, in charge of repairing the relationship with the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority and strategizing on the recovery plans for the war-ravaged areas. If this isn't a heel face turn, this troper doesn't know what is.