History Main / HeelFaceDoorSlam

* In ''Avater: The Last Airbender'' Zuko, who has been trying to capture the protagonists for three seasons and been half-ignoring their insistence that he could be their friend for just as long, finally sees the error of his ways and, guilt-ridden and earnest, tries to join the Aang Gang so he can play a vital role in teaching Aang/saving the world. The protagonists unanimously decide that he's used up his chances and send him away. Then he accidentally injures the only protag. still in doubt about him. Kid's got bad karma.[[spoiler:All is eventually well though!]]

** A ''literal'' HeelFaceDoorSlam happened to Spike. Originally a villain, he became a [[EnemyMine reluctant ally]] of the good guys in Season 4, and in Season 5, having fallen in love with Buffy, he tried acting more heroic in order to impress her [[hottip:* :it's a [[YourMileageMayVary fierce debate]] among ''[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'' [[{{Fandom}} fans]] whether loving Buffy led to Spike ''genuinely'' wanting to be a good person, or if his good deeds were just ploys to get into her pants]]. However, when Spike expresses his love by kidnapping Buffy and chaining her up in his crypt, she has Willow cast a spell that makes it impossible for Spike to enter Buffy's home. He's initially surprised, then emotionally devestated, when he runs into the invisible barrier surrounding her house and Buffy slams the door in his face.

->''Perhaps, if you had more time... But then again, perhaps not. Redemption is a rare and special thing, after all. It is not for everyone.''
-->--'''Lord Soon''', ''OrderOfTheStick''

* The ending of ''TheKillingJoke'' is along these lines. Batman reaches out to Joker that they've got to stop before one of them kills the other. Joker seems to want to but sadly rebuffs the offer, before telling his famous joke. This is more of a Heel Face Door Closed Gently.

Less lethally, a QuirkyMinibossSquad may find they've been effectively chained to the role, and no amount of CharacterDevelopment or [[TheWoobie viewer sympathy]] can free them. In this case, they at least don't die, but are still doomed to a lifetime of failure and villainy and ''[[GenreSavvy realize it]]''. Contrast RedemptionEarnsLife and KarmaHoudiniWarranty. Compare DeathEqualsRedemption.

!!'''WARNING:''' While HeelFaceDoorSlam Does Not Always Involve A [[DeathTropes Character's Death]], It Often Does, So Here Be {{Spoilers}}.

Alternatively, they have a brush with redemption and then reject it, often being ironically rebuffed in their overtures; this usually serves as the [[StartOfDarkness tipping point]] for a JerkassWoobie or WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.

On the other hand, it may simply be a sign that it's time for the heroes [[MoralEventHorizon to take the villain down without mercy]]. This is especially true if the ''hero's'' overtures are ultimately the ones being (violently) rebuffed.

* [[spoiler: Jegan]] from ''RaveMaster''. After his defeat he realizes that [[LoveMakesYouEvil nothing he can do will put him on the winning end of the love triangle]] and [[DrivenToSuicide starts looking for a way to end his life]] when he's talked down by a girl who starts enspiring him to turn over a new leaf. Then we find out that Demon Card's new policy is to eliminate everything in a 5 mile radius of a member who failed his or her mission.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' Mac Gargan, a.k.a. the Scorpion, ends up wandering the sewers at one point in the comics, depressed but with a clearer head than he had had for a long time. Eventually, his sanity starts to return, and he is about to make a HeelFaceTurn when Spider-Man [[spoiler: having depression issues of his own, finds Gargan and attacks him savagely in self-defense, ignoring Gargan's pleas that he had changed. Gargan then goes crazy again to save himself and continues his life of super-villain debauchery, first as Scorpion, and later as a new Venom]].

** Harold gets one of his own when the Boulder Free Zone not only accepts him but begins to regard him as a hero. He realizes full well he has a choice between putting his childish grudges aside forever or holding onto them even though he knows that they're poison. In the end he decides he's carried his hate for too long to just let it go, and slams the door shut on his own redemption.

* In ''TheScarletLetter'', Hester talks Chillingworth into realizing that he has hurt Dimmesdale, but he later ignores that realization.

* ''{{Dollhouse}}'' has this happen to [[spoiler: Bennett.]] She's made the choice to help the team at the LA Dollhouse, if only because [[spoiler: Echo has promised to help her get all the revenge she wants on Caroline]] and [[spoiler: she's in love with Topher.]] Then [[spoiler: Saunders shoots Bennett in the head.]]

* A truly [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] moment in ''KungFuPanda'' occurs when Shifu apologizes to Tai Lung for helping to shape him into the monster he's become, saying that his pride blinded him to the fact that his pupil had a few darker tendencies that he should have noticed and possibly fixed. Tai Lung appears genuinely affected for a moment... and then angrily says that he didn't come here for apologies: he only wants the Dragon Scroll. It's at this point when the audience realizes that Tai Lung is truly [[MoralEventHorizon beyond redemption.]]
** Not an example. Tai Lung may seem affected, but he goes on with his plan anyway; no door slamming involved.

* In ''{{Pokémon}}'', on the rare occasions Team Rocket attempt to go straight Team Twerp blast them into the sky anyway, sometimes completely by accident.

[[AC: Anime and Manga]]

[[AC: Literature]]

* In TheScarletLetter Hester talks Chillingworth into realizing that he has hurt Dimmesdale, but he later ignores that realization.

* Maury Parkman in season 3 of ''{{Heroes}}'' gets his neck snapped by Arthur Petrelli when he realizes Arthur's evilness and rebels to try to protect his son, Matt.
* An interesting case in PowerRangersLightSpeedRescue. Diabolico, after discovering how little his mistress Queen Bansheera cared for her minions, even destroying one of them in an attempt to get the rangers, vowed to never serve her again. However, he was brainwashed and forced to fight the rangers. Despite knowing that he wanted to change, the rangers had no choice but to destroy him. However, in the finale, he gets another chance at HeelFaceTurn by returning as a spirit and helping the rangers imprison Bansheera in the demon dimension forever.

* A really mean player who chooses to side with Kelemvor at the end of NeverwinterNights2 Mask of the Betrayer can do this to Arraman.

* [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/10/19/ Played]] hilariously straight in PennyArcade (in reference to ''{{Uncharted}}'').

* In {{ReBoot}}, the treacherous binome Cyrus was on the point of a HeelFaceTurn at the end of "Firewall" after the protagonists guided him through saving the day from the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Game Cube Of The Week]]. He was in the middle of being lauded as a hero when the BigBad showed up and had his [[QuirkyMinibossSquad goons]] drag him onto their side of the eponymous impenetrable wall; a couple episodes later he was shown about to be executed. [[spoiler:One of the goons set him free, but he still didn't show up again until a cameo at the end of the season.]]

<<|HeelFaceIndex|>>

* In ''MassEffect'', [[spoiler:Saren]] kills himself, just when you were in the middle of talking him round to your side before the final battle.
** Which is the indication that your attempt suceeded. He is under mind control via Indoctrination and shooting himself when he gains a moment of lucidity is the only way to stop him from sliding back. The incident with Benezia is a clear indicator that you can't permanently break indoctrination.
** Shiala did, but she was a ''very'' special case that is unlikely to happen again.
*** [[DidNotDoTheResearch Shiala was never indoctrinated]]. She was one of Benezia's followers when she joined Saren, and was given a choice between following or leaving. When she chose to stay with Benezia [[spoiler:Sovereign]] saw no point in indoctrinating her. She even willingly [[spoiler:offered herself to the Thorian]] out of loyalty.

** Subverted at the beginning of the third movie (in an extended scene). It looks like Wormtongue is finally about to adandom Saruman and join the heores, giving them insight on the enemy's plan. When Saruman realizes this, he strikes him across the face. Wormtongue is so upset by this that he stabs Saruman in the back and is shot down by Legolas, resulting in yet another point against diplomacy in Middle Earth.

** A ''literal'' HeelFaceDoorSlam happened to Spike. Originally a villain, he became a [[EnemyMine reluctant ally]] of the good guys in Season 4, and in Season 5, having fallen in love with Buffy, he tried acting more heroic in order to impress her [[hottip:* :it's a [[YourMileageMayVary fierce debate]] among ''[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'' [[{{Fandom}} fans]] whether loving Buffy led to Spike ''genuinely'' wanting to be a good person, or if his good deeds were just ploys to get his LoveInterest to like him]]. However, when Spike expresses his love by kidnapping Buffy and chaining her up in his crypt, she has Willow cast a spell that makes it impossible for Spike to enter Buffy's home. He's initially surprised, then emotionally devestated, when he runs into the invisible barrier surrounding her house and Buffy slams the door in his face.

* The page quote is from ''OrderOfTheStick'' for a reason.
** Specifically it refers to [[spoiler:Miko Miyazaki]], who could pretty much be the poster girl for this trope. [[spoiler:Therkla]] is another good example, although she makes it perfectly clear that she does ''not'' want to choose a side at all, and resents those trying to make her.
*** {{YourMilageMayVary}} with respect to [[spoiler:Miko ]] being a prime example. She'd like redemption, but she's not shown to have changed her way of thinking at all. She didn't try to turn between Heel and Face, she kept staring in the same direction, which happened to be slightly less wrong in the circumstances than it was before. It is a good page-quote though.
*** Possibly: she'd been driven not so much evil as paranoid and under increasing strain. In fact, her villainy is a direct result more or less of her not being a Main Character as she seemed to think (the main cast have gotten out of far more terrible deeds with no karmic retribution). Intriguingly, the comic has been extremely vague about where she went. In any case, she was not intending evil or even malice, and she was deliberately trained to be a Knight Templar.
*** This troper dislikes the whole story because the universe (read: the author) more or less conspired to push [[spoiler: Miko]] Heel. This includes, but not limited to, at least two chains of highly improbable circumstances, and applying different genre conventions that those used for the rest of the world. HeelFaceDoorSlam was a predictable cherry on the cake. Note, that simlar universal conspiracy against a character, except without fatal consequences (yet) happened again when Burlew decided to [[spoiler: push Vaarsuvius into DealWithTheDevil]].
**** This troper, on the other hand, felt that [[spoiler:Miko]] was from the start far closer to the Heel line than she was willing (or perhaps able) to see. Other [[spoiler:Paladins]] who had similar training found her Knight Templar tendencies excessive and unpleasant well before she overtly Turned.
** For the record, Miko never became ''evil'', but she was most definitely [[CharacterAlignment chaotic]], and a Paladin has to be LawfulGood. She also didn't exactly regret it, she just wanted her paladinish powers back.

** A ''literal'' HeelFaceDoorSlam happened to Spike the vampire, who, from Season 4 onwards was at first reluctantly forced to work with the Good Guys and later actively tried to repent and redeem himself. In one episode, however, Buffy had asked Willow to magically revoke Spike's invitation rights into Buffy's house; Spike was first confused, then emotionally crushed when he tried to enter Buffy's house and was repelled by an invisible barrier. When he tried to persuade Buffy to trust him, she closed the door in his face, leaving him standing outside.
*** Your Milage May Vary on whether or not he was actually trying to redeem himself. In Season 4, he seemed more into demon killing for sport and money. The only reason he didn't harm humans was because of the chip in his head. During the invitation-reroking episode in question, his attempts to woo Buffy involved kidnapping her and chaining her to a wall. It was no wonder Buffy wanted him out of her house.
*** Not to mention that Buffy and the Scoobies were always quick to forgive someone when it concerned one of their own gang or friends (or Buffy's vampire boyfriend [[AngelTheSeries Angel]]). But when Spike, despite not having a soul (and thus no moral compass) tried to become [[HeelFaceTurn good]] and be friends with them, instead of encouraging him they berated him and pushed him away, making it clear that ''no matter what he did'' or how many lives he saved he would never make up for the people he had killed since he'd become a vampire.
**** The Scoobies definately had a point though. While he was redeemable, he was a bit of a Creepy Stalker.

* On ''TheWire'', while the heel/face lines are often very blurry to begin with, basically any time a character involved in organized crime decides to become an informant, they inevitably die. The most prominent example is probably Bodie Broadus, who spends the first three seasons of the show steadily rising the ranks of the Barksdale drug empire, only for that empire to crumble at the end of the fourth season leaving him on his own as Marlo Stanfield's far more brutal, violent regime takes over. Bodie chafes at this and by the end of the season he's convinced to inform on Marlo and company. [[DyingMomentOfAwesome He dies before he can ever actually go through with it]], [[LastStand albeit on his own terms]].

*On ''TheWire'', while the heel/face lines are often very blurry to begin with, basically any time a character involved in organized crime decides to become an informant, they inevitably die. The most prominent example is probably Bodie Broadus, who spends the first three seasons of the show steadily rising the ranks of the Barksdale drug empire, only for that empire to crumble at the end of the fourth season leaving him on his own as Marlo Stanfield's far more brutal, violent regime takes over. Bodie chafes at this and by the end of the season he's convinced to inform on Marlo and company. He dies before he can ever actually go through with it, albeit on his own terms.

* ''{{Dollhouse}} has this happen to [[spoiler: Bennett.]] She's made the choice to help the team at the LA Dollhouse, if only because [[spoiler: Echo has promised to help her get all the revenge she wants on Caroline]] and [[spoiler: she's in love with Topher.]] Then [[spoiler: Saunders shoots Bennett in the head.]]