Sometimes, a person's spirit is just too corrupted to redeem. Maybe he committed despicable acts, maybe he became one of
The Heartless, maybe he just had extraordinarily bad luck. Regardless, there's simply no hope of redemption.
So, what do you do? Turn him into a baby!
Turning someone into an infant - mind, body and all - will essentially
purify his/her spirit, and allow him to start over. Typically, the transformation is soon followed by one of the heroes (or at least a good person) adopting the newly made infant, and presumably raising him
right this time.
This can be undermined if the person who adopts him raises him to be evil, anyway.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- Dream gives a Second Chance of this type to his former lover Nada in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Different from other examples because Nada was noble and virtuous, but had been made to suffer so much that Dream felt he could only make amends by giving her a chance at a happier life.
- Come to think of it, in a sense this trope is almost what the Corinthian gets as well. However, he gets to start over as (at least physically) an adult. Is there a trope for that?
- Magneto, the famous X-Men villain, was changed from a mad world-conqueror into a more morally gray character this way, by his own creation, the "Ultimate Mutant". While he was later aged back to adulthood by a villain, complete with all his memories, his megalomania was now gone.
- Cassandra Nova in New X-Men.
Film
- Royal Pain was regressed to a baby by her own Pacifier device in Sky High, then raised by her henchman to be evil again.
Literature
Live Action TV
- Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen ("Margaret") in the Doctor Who episode "Boomtown".
- The bit about "raising him right this time" explicitly stated in the Doctor Who story The Leisure Hive.
- Dr. Forrester of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is turned into a baby (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey) in his last appearance on the show. Subverted in that his mother Pearl initially promises to raise him right, but it's revealed later that he turned out just as bad as before. So she killed him.
Manga and Anime
- As Kid Buu finally disintegrates into nothingness at the end of Dragon Ball Z, Goku wishes for his soul to be reincarnated so he's a better person. Indeed, Buu is reincarnated as Uub, a kindly and friendly boy from a poor village whom Goku meets again during the Tenkaichi Budokai. After a quick match to gauge Uub's powers, Goku takes him away and blows off the whole tournament, leaving on a years-long training mission to bring Uub up to speed.
- Michal in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch.
- Saffron in the final chapter of Ranma 1/2. As a phoenix, Saffron should be expected to reset to an egg after his defeat, though.
- Hotaru Tomoe, alias Sailor Saturn, in Sailor Moon.
- Valgaav in The Slayers.
- Mayuka in Tenchi Muyo: Daughter of Darkness.
Video Games
- Serge is purified in this way about two-thirds of the way through Chrono Cross, though he rapidly ages back to normal afterward.
- King's Quest VII ends with Malicia being turned into a baby, to be raised again properly.
- Prince Cort, at the end of Legend Of Legaia, after which he is promptly adopted by Noa.
- One of the minor villains was redeemed in this way by Luna in Seiken Densetsu III.
- The main character of Shadow Of The Colossus, during the final cutscene. (This is a rare example of not being any kind of redemption, as the hero of Shadow Of The Colossus is probably the only fully heroic character in the entire game. He was possessed by the god-like being that was guiding you through the game until that point at the end, though)
- Though it's possible that he died and the baby was his child.
- Borf, at the end of Space Ace.
- Inverted in Terranigma in which the villains do this to Ark once he's outlived his usefulness. However, upon gaining maturity again, he is 'reborn' as the hero destined to defeat Dark Gaia and complete another revolution of the cycle.
- At least until multiple retcons stripped away most of his character development so he could just be a badass villain again.
Western Animation
- In the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, the Daimyo's son is deaged for this purpose, although he's only turned back to a young child and not an infant.
Real Life
- The Real Life religious doctrine of reincarnation is based on the idea that the universe gives you a second chance to live a good life.
