Basic Trope: A character is about to be redeemed, but suddenly perishes.
- Straight: John is about to help Bob, but he is killed by Jason.
- Exaggerated:
- John gets a heart attack the millisecond he even considers repenting.
- Bob nukes John's home right when he's about to repent.
- Downplayed:
- John thinks about helping Bob, but does not. John goes on to live a full life for many years and to a ripe old age but dies of heart attack caused by the guilt of not helping Bob once he gives it a thought one day.
- John helps Bob, only for Bob to treat John like shit.
- Justified:
- John's evil ways were leading up to his own demise. By the time he realized it, it was too late.
- John has a history of being The Mole, it is hard to even trust him.
- John was such an utterly vile person with so many despicable acts to his name that no one in their right mind would even contemplate allowing him to redeem himself, and when he tries, Bob kills him on the spot in outrage at his sheer audacity.
- Jason had long suspected that John was having qualms about his work, so he was fully prepared to kill him as soon as he acted on it.
- Inverted:
- Bob, the hero, realizes he wants to be bad, but is killed before he can do anything evil.
- John, after helping Bob to kill Jason, is immediately dispatched by Bob afterward.
- Subverted:
- Jason brutally attacks John but he survived his injuries and pulls an official turn.
- John and his followers are going through a Heel Realization, but John is killed before he can do good. However, his followers survive, complete the Heel–Face Turn and make John into a martyr.
- John comes Back from the Dead as a heroic Revenant Zombie.
- Double Subverted: But John dies due to his injuries before he is able to help Bob.
- Parodied:
- John, who's about to help Bob, is literally slammed by Jason with a door.
- John, who suffered from the Heel–Face Revolving Door, dies before he is able to prove his allegiance.
- Zig Zagged: Heel–Face Revolving Door mixed with They Killed Kenny Again.
- Averted:
- John successfully becomes good without dying.
- John successfully becomes good and then dies.
- Enforced: The writer is very harsh with establishing Laser Guided Karmas for villains or jerkasses, and sees redeeming them as letting them off easy. Thus, he wants to show how vindictive he is by having John get killed before he turns to the good side.
- Lampshaded:Jason: "Turning over a new leaf is too late, John. Die!" (kills John)
- Invoked:
- Jason gave John a serum that when he is about to betray him, activates and kills John.
- Bob, who is never forgiving towards the villains, decides to kill John just right before the latter was going to help him from Jason.
- Jason is paranoid about betrayal and is secretly watching John. The second John tries to help Bob, Jason activates a secret kill switch that kills John's.
- Bob simply doesn't believe that John wants to change, and mercilessly slaughters him as he pleads for a chance to redeem himself, dying a horrible and painful death with no one ever to know of his change of heart.
- Exploited: John's rival, Jacob, realizes that he can get John killed and himself promoted without blood on his hands by subtly making it easier for John to try helping Bob.
- Defied:
- Bob revives John, realizing he could use his help.
- John survives, says screw destiny, and repents on his own.
- Discussed:
- Conversed: "He tried to do good and why is he killed off? The writer is such a dick."
- Deconstructed: Bob does something bad, and his refusal to forgive John is cited as the reason he should not be forgiven.
- Played For Laughs: John is a Dirty Coward who tries to switch sides when it becomes clear that Jason is not going to succeed. Bob is not convinced.
- Played For Drama: Bob's refusal to forgive John shows that he is not a real hero and has far-reaching consequences than he alone can comprehend: it costs him the opportunity to defeat Jacob that could have been with John's help; as Jacob unleashes his Doomsday Device, Bob regrets this and can't live with it.
- Implied: Jason is an extremely paranoid villain who might have killed John for basically no reason, but there are some subtle hints John may have genuinely wanted to defect.
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