Basic Trope: A villain realizes that they are the bad guy.
- Straight:
- Bob is an Evil Overlord who realizes that in the process of taking over the world, he's brought death and suffering to millions of people.
- Bob, after throwing his falsely accused brother in prison to appease the majority, realizes he handled it in a not completely admirable manner.
- Exaggerated: Bob is a God of Evil in a Luxury Prison Suite who realizes that in the process of causing The End of the World as We Know It, it's brought death and suffering to trillions of sentient organisms.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is The Bully who realizes that his bullying was hurting people.
- Bob decides he no longer belongs in the utopia he is trying to create, but still plans to take extreme measures to create it.
- Justified:
- Bob started as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who believed that Utopia Justifies the Means, and honestly believed until now that he was doing the right thing.
- Bob had a very convincing Opinion-Changing Dream that made him reassess his brother.
- Inverted:
- Bob the Anti-Hero realizes that he's a bad guy.
- Face Realization.
- He Who Fights Monsters.
- Subverted:
- Bob sees all the pain he's caused, but it only makes him surer that it's all for the greater good.
- Bob realises that he was wrong... and then goes right back to doing what he's been doing, proving that he has learned nothing.
- Double Subverted: Bob realizes that his original goals were evil, but his essentially unpleasant nature means that his activities in the service of "good" are just as vicious.
- Parodied: Bob accidentally forgets to feed his pet cat, Muffins. He has a nervous breakdown as a result.
- Zig Zagged: Bob sees the pain he's caused and finally realizes he's evil. He decides he doesn't care, and stays evil for a while. But then he goes too far and realizes he's even more evil than he thought he was and decides to change.
- Averted:
- Bob does not realize he's the bad guy.
- Bob knows he is a bad guy and revels in that fact.
- Alternatively, Bob knows he's a bad guy and he hates it.
- Enforced: "We'll want to redeem Bob eventually. He should have a crisis of conscience about being a villain."
- Lampshaded: "Your undead armies have swept across the land killing everyone in their path! Of course you're the villain!"
- Invoked: Casey gives Bob a well placed Kirk Summation in order to make him see the error of his ways.
- Exploited: Alice gives Bob a "Break Them by Talking" lecture that opens his eyes, and uses the moment of distraction to kill him for his crimes.
- Defied: Bob is a Knight Templar who will never see himself in the wrong no matter how much damage he causes.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Bob's realization of being in the wrong didn't give him the opportunity to make things right. Instead, it puts him in a Luxury Prison Suite where he pathetically dwells in sorrow and despair by remembering his deeds. It also doesn't help that anyone isn't willing to let go of their hostility and bitterness towards Bob.
- Even if Bob did realized the fact what he's been doing is wrong, many others outright refuse to forgive him.
Thanks to both of the deconstructions, the people who refused to forgive Bob soon end up slowly mutating into literal aspects of Bob that they loathe, realizing their own errors far too late to even repent. All that was thanks to a curse cast upon the land by a demented warlock under the employ of the God of Hatred, Odio.
- Reconstructed: Bob's such a sorry wreck that a few people, including Charlie, take pity on him and let him take the first major steps toward being reformed, after leaving his Luxury Prison Suite. Bob spends some time as The Atoner, and is finally forgiven eventually.
- Played For Drama:
- Bob realizes that he's the villain... and likes it. Now that he's completely unhindered he will make the heroes suffer even more.
- Bob has a Heel Realization and decides he doesn't want to be the Big Bad any more. His second-in-command happily takes his position, putting his old boss to death to keep him from being a liability and to show just how much less scrupulous he is than Bob..
Back to Heel Realization
