History Main / RedemptionEarnsLife

* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', [[spoiler:Fiamma of the Right is TheManBehindTheMan of the Roman Catholic Church's darker motives and actions, manipulating events to start WorldWarIII and uncaring of anyone who has to die in [[WellIntentionedExtremist his one-man quest to save the world]]. Touma beats him down both with fists and words and tells him to re-evaluate his opinion on humanity while sending him to safety in an escape pod. After seeing his efforts go down in flames, Fiamma takes a moment to consider his words, decides that maybe Touma was right...and promptly gets attacked and nearly killed by [[ManipulativeBastard Aleister Crowley]], who's tired of Fiamma's plans interfering with his own. Despite this, Fiamma continues to believe in Touma's words as he tries (and fails) to fight back to keep Aleister from trying to use Touma, and after being left for dead he winds up saved from dying of blood loss and exposure in the snowy Russian plains by Ollerus]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Ultimately, [[Characters/AmphibiaKingAndrias King Andrias]] decision to let Anne win against him and stop his invasion is what keeps her from going all out to kill him. Heavily damaged as he is afterwards, he continues to do what was right whenever he can, such as helping aid the girls against the Core's ColonyDrop gambit and ridding himself of its influence on him once and for all. He is shown to have lived all the way up to the series finale, living life as a simple and happy (albeit imprisoned) farmer.

* In part three of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' anti-villain Polnareff, after trying to murder our protagonists, is about to die and has an opportunity to murder Avdol by stabbing him in the back. Rather than kill Avdol in a dishonorable manner, Polnareff decides to die with honor instead. Avdol, who arranged the whole thing, decides that Polnareff passed his SecretTestOfCharacter and saves his life instead. Furthermore, Polnareff is one of the only protagonists to survive part three.

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
** There's a meta example in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' with [[spoiler:Byakuya Togami, who acts as TheRival for the game. He's also the ''only'' rival in the main three games to survive- because unlike the other two (Nagito Komaeda and Kokichi Oma) he eventually gets over himself and stops his needless antagonism of the other students. The other two die as the victim/murderer/[[ItMakesSenseInContext it's complicated]] of the fifth chapter of their games, but Byakuya officially declares he's joining the team at the end of the fourth chapter, ensuring he survives the fifth as the Mastermind can't use him to spark the final conflict.]]
** It's non-canon, but this is essentially the basis for the short story ''Literature/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavocIf''. [[spoiler: Mukuro Ikusaba is canonically Junko's (somewhat conflicted but still loyal) accomplice, and dies in that role early on when Junko betrays her. In ''IF'', Makoto saves Mukuro from her canonical death. The realization that Junko never cared for her prompts Mukuro to betray her, and she then spends the rest of the novel working to make sure that EverybodyLives, including Mukuro herself.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', [[spoiler:this is how Sakura survives the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, as her battle with Rin forces her out of her despair and she begins resisting her bond with Angra Manyu. As a result, Shirou has enough time to find her and free her from becoming the next Holy Grail. The true ending makes things even better for her, as Shirou ends up surviving as well and they both live happily together.]]

* Happens in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Feron eventually does a permanent HeelFaceTurn and ultimately commits a HeroicSacrifice to save Liara and Shepard's body from the Shadow Broker...cut to two years later, where Liara and Shepard go to great lengths to save him from the Shadow Broker because of his heroic sacrifice. Also happens with Wrex, if you [[spoiler: talk him down on Virmire.]]

* In the final chapter of ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'', the player discovers [[spoiler:Ori has been a member of a nihilistic death cult her whole life and was completely on board with sacrificing herself to bring about the endless night. However, her interactions with the selfless Partitio cause her to shake her beliefs as she realizes that maybe the Moonshade Order was wrong and the world deserves to see a new dawn. This causes her to botch [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning the ritualistic suicide she was about to perform,]] leaving her on the brink of death but still able to be nursed back to health. She's the only member of the Order left alive by the end with [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity newfound faith in humanity]], while everyone else either died at the hands of the heroes or were sacrificed to resurrect Vide.]]

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has an almost semi-meta version in the case of [[spoiler: Zelos.]] There are two possible storyline routes. In the first, the character pulls [[spoiler: a HeelFaceTurn at the last minute, saves everyone in your party from death traps, and grants you a power vital to defeating the final boss.]] This is the route in which the character survives. If you choose the other route, [[spoiler: he never turns; he was EvilAllAlong, entirely selfishly motivated, and after this reveal, he attacks the party and you're forced to kill him.]] So if you don't pick the route which allows him to redeem himself, he dies.

* In ''VideoGame/TrafficDepartment2192'', [[spoiler:General Orlok sincerely wants to reform the Vultures for the sake of peace. Velasquez, weary of fighting, cooperates with him, and Orlok ends up being one of the only characters in the game who doesn't die.]]

--> '''[[ThePaladin Cecil Harvey:]]''' I cannot stress how imperative it is that you renounce your current path. ''Now.'' [...] Because your repentance is the only thing that will keep me from '''ending''' you.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

->''I turn my head to the East, I don't see nobody by my side.''\\
''I turn my head to the West, still nobody in sight.''\\
''So I turn my head to the North, swallow that pill that they call pride.''\\
''That old me's dead and gone, but the new me'll be alright.''
-->-- {{Music/TI}}, "'''Dead And Gone'''"

* In ''VideoGame/Bioshock1'', Brigid Tenenbaum is the only named NPC who survives the events of the game, as everyone else was already dead by the time Jack came [[spoiler:back]] to Rapture, or was [[spoiler:killed by Jack's hands as their enemy]]. Tenenbaum wisely decides to stay out of Jack's way and never betray him, even if he decides to harvest Little Sisters, acknowledging her shady past with them and doing her best to make up to them.

** There's a meta example in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' with [[spoiler: Byakuya Togami, who acts as TheRival for the game. He's also the ''only'' rival in the main three games to survive- because unlike the other two (Nagito Komaeda and Kokichi Oma) he eventually gets over himself and stops his needless antagonism of the other students. The other two die as the victim/murderer/[[ItMakesSenseInContext It's complicated]] of the fifth chapter of their games, but Byakuya officially declares he's joining the team at the end of the fourth chapter, ensuring he survives the fifth as the Mastermind can't use him to spark the final conflict.]]

* Kaitlin in ''Series/VRTroopers'' had an EvilKnockoff [[CloningBlues mirror clone]] made of her, and due to instability both couldn't exist at the same time. After being found out and imprisoned by the good guys, Ryan managed to convince her to switch sides, and she was reintegrated into the original Kaitlin, even giving her a "Double Me!" attack that created a clone of her.

* In ''Videogame/BaldursGateIII'', playing as "The Dark Urge" has the protagonist constantly be tempted into committing horrid acts of violence and periodically will have to roll a saving check in order to avoid succumbing to their bloodlust. Eventually it's revealed that this is because [[spoiler:the player is a Bhaalspawn, IE; the offspring of [[GodOfEvil Bhaal, God of Murder]]. After defeating their sister Orin, Bhaal himself will command the player to either become his Chosen once again or suffer the consequences. If they choose the latter Bhaal will have them killed only for Withers, the mysterious undead who hangs out at your camp and revives dead party members, to come by and revives them out of admiration for their defiance of their destiny]].

!Examples:

* She never technically fell to begin with, but in ''Manga/ElfenLied'' Nana wasn't anywhere near as bloodthirsty as other Diclonii, only snapping occasionally under extreme duress. The only person she makes a conscious effort to kill was Lucy, and that was mostly to stop her psychotic rampages. [[spoiler:Even still, events kept preventing Nana from scoring even a single fatality, even when she was trying to cause one. She's rewarded by being the only Diclonius to survive the events of the Manga.]]

* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', the RivalTurnedEvil Yui Hongo's final wish before the god Seiryuu consumes her. Notable in that it's an instance where redemption equals death ''and'' life, because her wish allows Miaka to summon Suzaku, and Miaka in turn uses her first wish to bring Yui back.

* ComicBook/AmericanVampire features an almost literal example and also surprisingly dark variant for this trope: [[spoiler:Infamous outlaw turned vampire Skinner Sweet lived many lifetimes of crime, murder and betrayal until he is forced to side with the [[VampireHunter Vassals of the Morning Star]] to fight against [[EldritchAbomination the Beast]]. He serves as a NominalHero up until he decides to pull a HeroicSacrifice to save his partner Calvin Poole when the two are trapped inside a space station, by manually directing the shuttle from the outside to ensure his partner survives as Sweet burns while re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Not only is he successful, but he also survives as well and discovers he has been cured from vampirism. So in a literal sense, redemption did make him alive again. On the downside, he can no longer be infected again and he has a HeroicBSOD when he realizes he is BroughtDownToNormal.]]

* ''Fanfic/{{Splint}}'': [[spoiler:Baladnor, Ingrid's alcoholic husband, starts out [[FantasticRacism hating Orcs]] because he was crippled in the last raid he took as an Orc hunter, leaving him suffering from chronic pain, joint problems and inability to get aroused thanks to the Orcish poison in his system, which no human healer knows how to cure. After Rukhash learns Baladnor – whom she thought she had killed – was at said raid, she ultimately decides to settle for letting the poison to do its work of gradually killing him as revenge. When he attempts to provoke her to prove she's nothing but a monster who doesn't deserve protection, he learns that she lost [[TheLostLenore her mate]] and [[OutlivingOnesOffspring children]] (the former by his hand) in that raid. [[HeelRealization Seeing her raw grief makes him concede that her hatred of him is justified]], so he refuses to help Barmund murder her and saves her life by warning [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Magistrate Halbard]] whose men stop Barmund and his gang just in time. After Rukhash is told of what Baladnor did, she tells him about the poison and reluctantly gives him the antidote for the sake of looking forward. The antidote saves him from eventual death and rids him of his ailments, allowing him to live happily again with Ingrid. When Rukhash and Cadoc later become wanted by Orc-haters, Baladnor helps Magistrate Halbard testify for the couple in front of King Elessar to get the unjust bounty called off.]]

* A complicated example in ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven''. Charlie left Heaven and lost his place there as a result (he only got it because he was a dog and they all go to Heaven), thus if he dies again, he'll go to Hell. Well in the end, he performs a HeroicSacrifice to save Anne-Marie's life and dies. While this would normally be RedemptionEqualsDeath, the act redeems his soul and saves him from an eternity in Hell, thus Redemption Earns After Life. Same happens to [[spoiler:Carface]] in the third film. [[spoiler:It's revealed that if he doesn't change his ways, not only will he be dead before next Christmas, he'll be spending eternity in Hell. In the end, he decides to do the right thing and pull a HeelFaceTurn, saving his soul and his life.]]

* In ''Film/LetTheRightOneIn'' Oskar is beaten and bullied by several bullies. Eventually they even try to drown him. But Eli comes just in time to kill they and save Oskar. The one bully who did not participate in the attempted murder is spared by Eli.

* [[spoiler: Jesse]] from ''Series/BreakingBad'' [[spoiler: has his HeelRealization before Walt, and attempts to get out of the meth business. Although later his attempt fails spectacularly, and he is forced to cook meth for Jack's gang. After a few months, Walt comes to kill him and rest of the Neo-Nazis under assumption that Jesse is willingly cooking meth for them, but after seeing personally how ruined he has become, Walt changes his mind and saves him from his machine gun, allowing him to live and escape scot-free]].

** According to Jewish tradition, the Egyptian princess (Bithiah/Batya) who raised Moses was a firstborn, but was saved from the tenth plague and left Egypt with the Israelites. Some also believe that other, God-fearing Egyptians left with the Israelites as well.

* This is present in UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} and UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}}, which work on the principle we humans are part of a cycle of rebirth and reincarnate every time according to how saintly or evil we were in the previous life (until being released from the cycle, that is). Even if you die shortly after redeeming from evil ways, having already done so is technically a bonus of good karma for your rebirth, meaning that, essentially, all redemptions earn you a bit of life in the next. Of course, this might or might not be enough to compensate all the rest of your bad karma, but you will have again the possibility to work towards it.

* In ''VideoGame/Castlevania64'', Reinhardt encounters a young woman named Rosa, who's been turned into a vampire and considers this a FateWorseThanDeath, even attempting to commit SuicideBySunlight and begging Reinhardt to kill her so as to end her suffering. Late in the game she's forced to fight him while being under Death's control, and after he spares her again, she ends up making a HeroicSacrifice to save his life. In the good ending, after Reinhardt destroys Dracula's true form, Rosa is resurrected as a human through divine intervention, with the heavy implication they'll now start a new life together.

* [[spoiler:Loghain]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' can join your party if you spare his life at the Landsmeet and induct him into the Grey Wardens, although depending on your choices he may make a HeroicSacrifice against the final boss.
** You can choose to recruit him and then leave him behind at the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. He's very puzzled by your decision, and asks why. One of your possible responses is basically along the lines of "one day, you'll figure out why". [[spoiler:He goes on to become TheAtoner and an all-round CoolOldGuy, helping to rebuild the Grey Wardens in Ferelden]].

* In ''VideoGame/LibraryOfRuina'', as part of the Golden Ending, [[spoiler:Angela decides to release everything she's absorbed and give up her human body to reverse the damage she'd done, fully well expecting to die in the process. However, Roland pulls her out of the light at the last second, saving her life (at the cost of her instead just returning to a mechanical body), cementing both characters' CharacterDevelopment and and acknowledging the friendship they share.]]

* In the final chapter of ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'', the player discovers [[spoiler:Ori has been a member of a nihilistic death cult her whole life and was completely on board with sacrificing herself to bring about the endless night. However, her interactions with the selfless Partitio cause her to shake her beliefs as she realizes that maybe the Moonshade Order was wrong and the world deserves to see a new dawn. This causes her to botch [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning the ritualistic suicide she was about to perform,]] leaving her on the brink of death but still able to be nursed back to health. She's the only member of the Order left alive by the end with [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity newfound faith in humanity]], while everyone else either died by the hands of the heroes or were sacrificed to resurrect Vide.]]

* Ryoto Hikawa, in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'', is shown as a reluctant {{mook|s}} of the Divine Crusaders who doesn't seem to have the heart for fighting, but believes in their cause. Unfortunately for him, the DC doesn't reciprocate this belief and [[WhyAmITicking use him as a delivery vector for a bomb to blow up the Hagane]]. His surrender to the Hagane's crew literally saves his life.

** More specifically, [[spoiler:[[BigBad Alexei]] was planning on burying Raven alive along with the rest of the party. After his figurative change of heart, Raven ends up not only holding the ceiling up long enough for them to escape, but surviving to rejoin them later on]].

* What looks to be a case of RedemptionEqualsDeath ends up turning out to be this in ''Webcomic/EnsignSueMustDie''. [[spoiler: The titular Ensign Sue, by the end of the third story she had redeemed herself and eventually convinced Sue Prime to give up on her plan. Sue Prime exiting the universe meant that all of the Sues she created vanished (as they were parts of her), which at first includes Ensign Sue- but the last page shows that Ensign Sue has been reincarnated as a normal human called Ensign Mary Smith.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'', the Ravager Variant of [[Characters/MCUThanos Thanos]] is the only version of him (including both his main counterpart and his [[Film/AvengersEndgame 2014 Variant]]) who is talked down from his genocidal plan to kill half of the universe, and thus is the only one to survive his story.

** [[spoiler:Frieza]] in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''. After participating in the Tournament of Power, [[spoiler:Beerus has Whis revive Frieza as thanks for his amazing work. The first thing out of Frieza's mouth is that, no, he's not turning good any time soon. But he ''does'' leave without incident, and has clearly cooled on his obsession over Goku.]]

** There's a meta example in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' with [[spoiler: Byakuya Togami, who acts as TheRival for the game. He's also the ''only'' rival in the main three games to survive- because unlike the other two (Nagito Komaeda and Kokichi Oma) he eventually gets over himself and stops his needless antagonism of the other students.]]

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'': This is [[spoiler: Kratos's]] ultimate fate.[[spoiler: He manages to overcome his guilt and DeathSeeker tendencies and develop into a genuine hero... and in doing so, he averts a prophecy of his death by doing the one thing fate would never expect of him.]]

* In the final chapter of ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'', [[spoiler:Ori has been a member of a nihilistic death cult her whole life and was completely on board with sacrificing herself to bring about the eternal night. However, her interactions with the selfless Partitio cause her to shake her beliefs as she realizes that maybe the Moonshade Order was wrong and the world deserves to see a new dawn. This causes her to botch [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning the ritualistic suicide she was about to perform,]] leaving her on the brink of death but still able to be nursed back to health. She's the only member of the Order left alive by the end with [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity newfound faith in humanity]], while everyone else either died by the hands of the heroes or were sacrificed to resurrect Vide.]]