History Main / HeinousnessRetcon

** Zig-zagged with Ashnard. ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' implies that he instigated the Serenes Massacre as part of his plan to get [[ArtifactOfDoom Lehran's Medallion]] and a Heron who could release the goddess within. The sequel, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' reveals that [[NotMeThisTime it was actually the Begnion Senate who orchestrated the massacre]] (which is more understandable, given their already established FantasticRacism and Heron slave trade). However, ''Radiant Dawn'' also establishes that the "plague" Ashnard engineered to [[KlingonPromotion get rid of everyone else in line for the throne]] was via Blood Pact, meaning a ''lot'' of innocents must have died in the process, far more than previously implied. It ''also'' establishes he was an AbusiveParent who married a Dragon Laguz in hopes their child would be powerful, and when the child seemed normal he abandoned them both. So while his heinousness was downplayed for one event, it was ramped up in other ways.

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': Ridley started as one of the many SpacePirates bosses of the original games, and this remained unchanged for a time. There wasn't any connection between him and Samus. However, due partially to his popularity as his role expanded two adaptations rewrote him to give him a [[YouKilledMyFather much more personal connection]]:

** [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E02AreYouThereGodItsMeDeanWinchester "Are You Their God? It's Me Dean Winchester"]]: The VengefulGhost of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Victor Henriksen]] claims that Lilith slowly tortured him and all the other innocent officers to death after Sam and Dean left them in the police station, especially mentioning one poor woman she brutally flayed before his eyes. However, whilst very much in character for [[{{Sadist}} Lilith]], when we saw the event play out in the previous seasons [[Recap/SupernaturalS03E12JusInBello "Jus In Bello"]], she simply blew up the building they were in, killing everyone instantly.

** [[Recap/SupernaturalS04E02AreYouThereGodItsMeDeanWinchester "Are You Their God? It's Me Dean Winchester"]]: The VengefulGhost of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Victor Henriksen]] claims that Lilith slowly tortured him and all the other innocent officers to death after Sam and Dean left them in the police station, specially mentioning one poor woman she brutally flayed before his eyes. However, whilst very much in character for [[{{Sadist}} Lilith]], when we saw the event play out in the previous seasons "Jus In Belo" she simply blew up the building they were in, killing everyone instantly.

** In season 3's "The Kids Are Alright," upon being prompted to investigate them by Ruby, Sam discovers that [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils Azazel]] had his [[FamilyExtermination mother's family, the Campbells, massacred]] to the point where he can't find any members who are still alive. Come season 6 and suddenly there are quite a lot of living Campbells, with them being able to pull together at least a dozen or so members, and at least two being specially stated to be the brothers' third cousins. At no point does either brother ask how they survived or even bring up the massacre.
** In "Are You Their God Its Me Dean Winchester" the VengefulGhost of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Victor Henriksen]] claims that Lilith slowly tortured him and all the other innocent officers to death after Sam and Dean left them in the police station, specially mentioning one poor woman she brutally flayed before his eyes. However, whilst very much in character for [[{{Sadist}} Lilith]], when we saw the event play out in the previous seasons "Jus In Belo" she simply blew up the building they were in, killing everyone instantly.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Early into the series Sawyer is presented as bigoted. I.e. In the second episode, his attack on the Iraqi Sayid is clearly racially motivated, with Sawyer believing he's a terrorist that must have brought the plane down solely due to him being middle eastern even though everyone saw the plane shake and break apart due to turbulence. While his {{Jerkass}} personality remains and he often feuds with other survivors, the racism aspect is instantly dropped after this confrontation, and no one, including Sayid, ever calls him out on it.

* ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheSiegeOfMechanicsburg'': The original ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' comic had Klaus Wulfenbach [[spoiler:inflict brainwashing on his son Gilgamesh]] in a desperate "IDidWhatIHadToDo" moment. The novelization changes the context of this scene so that [[spoiler:Lucrezia, ever the HopeCrusher that she is, mind-controlling Klaus to do this to torment him]], making both Klaus ''and'' Gilgamesh the victims here.

Simply put, you've encountered the Heinousness Retcon, a particular type of retcon that focuses on taking an existing antagonistic figure and altering (potentially quite drastically) the heinousness of their crimes and/or their character.

A hallmark of nearly any long enough running series (and several shorter ones) is that some antagonists will make a return, maybe just once or maybe their role will be [[AscendedExtra significantly increased]], often to the delight of the fans. But wait, did they just say the guy who only murdered his wife is one of the world's most prolific [[SerialKiller Serial Killers]]? Why is everyone acting like the environmentalist who attacked oil pipelines was always a [[TerroristWithoutACause psycho who wanted to blow up the city]]? And isn't that the same arsonist who was introduced laughing while watching people burn to death now insisting they've only ever lit empty buildings and would never hurt anyone? Why is no one acknowledging these drastic changes?

Occasionally, there may be a handwave about how key information simply wasn't known during the original encounter, although don't expect much explanation of when it was discovered or why it never came up before (cases where the information couldn't possibly be known before hand only count if they directly contradict something which has been previous established, e.g. a guy who is shown panicking at the prospect of killing suddenly having multiple bodies buried under their house).

Compare DependingOnTheWriter where a character's heinousness is overall somewhat inconsistent rather than flat out retconned, and EarlyInstallmentWeirdness and CharacterisationMarchesOn when character details are inconsistent due to them not being fully established yet. DracoInLeatherPants and RonTheDeathEater when this occurs in fanfics rather than the actual work. Contrast AdaptationalVillainy, AdaptationalNiceGuy, AdaptationalHeroism and AdaptationalSympathy when a new version of the character is presented as morally different compared to the original. AdaptationalConsent and AdaptationalSelfDefense, where adaptations change a crime into either something less heinous or more heinous. See also BackportedDevelopment annd SameCharacterButDifferent.

* ''Literature/AliceGirlFromTheFuture'': The recurring SpacePirates duo Rat and Jolly U are a lot crueler in the first three books that feature them. They use blackmail and torture, occupy peaceful planets, and even try wiping out entire planets' population. Further on into the franchise, they suddenly become much nicer without anyone InUniverse acknowledging it. In the later books, for example, Alice muses that Rat and Jolly U would never imprison anyone for the sake of obtaining secrets of new technology (never mind that it's ''exactly'' what happens in ''Literature/TheVoyageOfAlice''), and Rat is furious at planetary tyrants who spent their lives conquering and oppressing others (having apparently forgotten he did the same some books earlier).

* ''Series/{{Blindspot}}'': In his first appearance, whilst still [[BewareTheSillyOnes goofy and fun loving]], Rich Dotcom is presented as a [[FauxAffablyEvil falsely charming]], somewhat creepy criminal mastermind who casually executes one of his own loyal henchmen on the spot for an apparent failure, and is even described by [[TheSmartGirl Patterson]] as one of the most dangerous men alive. Come all subsequent appearances (before his HeelFaceTurn) and he's presented as a [[AffablyEvil genuinely friendly]] wise-cracking hedonist whose crimes are centered in cerebral trickery and avoids violence at all costs, with no one ever remarking on this change. No doubt his unexpected popularity (leading to his [[BreakOutCharacter drastically increased role]]) led to this softer characterization.

** The remake of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', ''Echoes'', establishes that the gods Mila and Duma were succumbing to madness by the time of the story and no-one noticed, making [[TheHeavy Rudolf's]] actions look much more NecessarilyEvil than they did in the original.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'': The Japanese exclusive child mode was the first to show Ridley as leading the Space Pirate raid that destroyed Samus' home planet and leaving her an orphan.
** ''Manga/MetroidManga'': Building upon the first example specifically has Ridley murder Samus's mother, and was the cause of her father's sacrifice. Not only that, many years later Ridley kills Gray Voice, Samus's adoptive parent. The manga is stated as canon, thus later installations such as ''Videogame/MetroidOtherM'' and ''Videogame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' would openly acknowledge Ridley as responsible for leaving Samus an orphan and killing her parents, giving them [[ItsPersonal a deep connection]] for their enmity.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': In his introduction in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', its implied [[PredecessorVillain Professor Gerald Robotnik]] built the Eclipse Cannon as a WeaponOfMassDestruction either due to the loss of his granddaughter Maria driving him to insanity (or else he was mad even before her death); with the twist being he planned to destroy the Planet via crashing his space colony into it. Come ''Videogame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' its revealed the Cannon was in fact created for a good reason: to destroy the Black Comet -- as Black Doom offered his blood for the creation of Shadow the hedgehog, in exchange for the Chaos Emeralds to conquer the planet.

** The 1987 graphic novel, ''ComicBook/{{Son of the Demon}}'', had Bruce and Talia conceive a child. When Bruce nearly dies protecting her and the baby, Talia lies that she suffered a miscarriage and puts the baby up for adoption. When Grant Morrison integrated the events of this story into main continuity, they retconned Talia into drugging and raping Bruce to conceive Damian whom she raised with the intent of him taking over the League of Assassins.

*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter At Farpoint]]" its heavily implied they're notorious for [[SapientEatSapient eating other sapient species]], something which is never mentioned again throughout the entire franchise (save one novel that reconnected it as part of a propaganda campaign to make them look fearsome in preparation for meeting what they believed was a truly insane faction).
*** In their first appearance "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E4TheLastOutpost The Last Outpost]]" the Ferengi are effectively caricatures of the worst parts of humanity (to contrast with how advanced and enlightened the crew of Enterprise is) and presented as manic, vicious greedy warriors, who are openly hostile and hell-bent on attacking the crew then looting the corpses. Following it being realised they were nowhere near intimidating enough to work in this role, later episodes switched to presenting them as, whilst still potentially dangerous and obsessed with greed, an overall cowardly race who only attacked when they clearly had the upper hand, and who's tactics leaned towards deception, subterfuge, and illegal activities.
*** Come ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' the Ferengi were completely reimagined as a ProudMerchantRace whose only focuses are on economic pursuit and profit (albeit with not [[CorruptCorporateExecutive many moral scruples]]), with Quark outright boasting that the Ferengi had never engaged in active warfare during their entire existence, instead using their economic skills to force any opponents into making a quick (and often highly profitable) deals. Neither [[TheEngineer Chief O'Brien]] nor Worf, both of whom were aboard the Enterprise and involved in several Ferengi attacks ever called him out on the discrepancy.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Joran, the secret former host of the Dax symbiont, whilst always a murderer and presented as psychologically unstable, in his origin "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E04Equilibrium Equilibrium]]" he was a regular killer with only one victim, someone he had a motive to kill. In all his later appearances he has more victims and is full-blown deranged, with even Quark somehow knowing it. To the point that Ezri summons him to help her get an insight into the mind of a psycho when there is a SerialKiller loose on the station.

** In season 3's "The Kids Are Alright" upon being prompted to investigate them by Ruby, Sam discovers that [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils Azazel]] had his [[FamilyExtermination mother's family, the Campbells, massacred]] to the point where he can't find any members who are still alive. Come season 6 and suddenly there are quite a lot of living Campbells, with them being able to pull together at least a dozen or so members, and at least two being specially stated to be the brothers' third cousins. At no point does either brother ask how they survived or even bring up the massacre.

Occasionally, there may be a handwave about how key information simply wasn't known during the original encounter, although don't expect much explanation of when it was discovered or why it never came up before (cases where the information couldn't possibly be known before hand only count if they directly contradict something which has been previous established, i.e. a guy who is shown panicking at the prospect of killing suddenly having multiple bodies buried under their house).

* ComicBook/{{Eclipso}}: After spending the first three decades as a C-list villain and the [[JekyllAndHyde dark half of Dr. Bruce Gordon]], in the 1990's he was retconned as actually being the immensely powerful Spirt of God's Wrath (making him the EvilCounterpart to ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'', the Sprit of God's Vengeance). Initially, it was claimed he was only pretending to be a minor threat to throw the heroes off guard, though later appearances this was forgotten and he was treated as always being a serious deal.

** Zig-zagged with Ashnard. ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' implies that he instigated the Serenes Massacre as part of his plan to get [[ArtifactOfDoom Lehran's Medallion]] and a Heron who could release the goddess within. The sequel, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' reveals that [[NotMeThisTime it was actually the Begnion Senate who orchestrated the massacre]] (which is more understandable, given their already established FantasticRacism and Heron slave trade). However, ''Radiant Dawn'' also establishes that the "plague" Ashnard engineered to [[KlingonPromotion get rid of everyone else in line for the throne]] was via Blood Pact, meaning a ''lot'' innocents must have died in the process, far more than previously implied. It ''also'' establishes he was an AbusiveParent who married a Dragon Laguz in hopes their child would be powerful, and when the child seemed normal he abandoned them both. So while his heinousness was downplayed for one event, it was ramped up in other ways.

** Downplayed with Manfred von Karma in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations2''. A flashback to the case that lead to the DL-6 Incident reveals that the forged evidence von Karma used in the trial was prepared by someone else and he wasn't aware of the forgery. At the same time, he's still very much the same AmoralAttorney he is in the present, and it's still implied he forged evidence in past cases, and the flashback case ''also'' reveals he had the defendant interrogated non-stop to the point where his hair turned white, which is what he actually received his one penalty for. It's also implied that, through the events of this game, Franziska finally comes to terms with how horrible her father was.

** The 1987 graphic novel, ''ComicBook/{{Son of the Demon}}'', had Bruce and Talia conceive a child. When Bruce nearly dies protecting her and the baby, Talia lies that she suffered a miscarriage and puts the baby up for adoption. When Grant Morrison integrated the events of this story into main continuity, he retconned Talia into drugging and raping Bruce to conceive Damian whom she raised with the intent of him taking over the League of Assassins.

* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': Khan Noonien Singh is accused by Spock of having intended eugenics-motivated genocide on all those he considered inferior during his reign. This contradicts his presentation as a benevolent dictator in his introduction in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", with it being stated that under his rule there were no mass killings and no wars that weren't started by other parties, his status even being a plot point as it causes the crew of the Enterprise to underestimate how ruthless and power-hungry Khan really is. That the events take place in an AlternateTimeline should have no effect on this as Khan's time was centuries before the departure point.

** The remake of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', ''Echoes'', establishes that the gods Mila and Duma were succumbing to madness by the time of the story and no-one noticed, making [[TheHeavy Rudolf's]] actions look must more like a NecessaryEvil than they did in the original.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The Ferengi go through several versions of this during the show's run, mostly due to initial plans for them to be the shows main antagonists falling through.

*** Come ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' the Ferengi were completely reimagined as a ProudMerchantRace whose only focuses are on economic pursuit and profit (albeit with not [[CorruptCorporateExecutive many moral scruples]]), with Quark outright boasting that the Ferengi had never engaged in active warfare during their entire existence, instead using their economic skills to force any opponents into making a quick (and often highly profitable) deals. With not even [[TheEngineer Chief O'Brien]] (who was aboard the Enterprise and involved in several Ferengi attacks) ever calling him out the discrepancy.

* ''Film/StarTrekInToDarkness'': Khan Noonien Singh is accused by Spock of having intended eugenics-motivated genocide on all those he considered inferior during his reign. This contradicts his presentation as a benevolent dictator in his introduction in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", with it being stated that under his rule there were no mass killings and no wars that weren't started by other parties, his status even being a plot point as it causes the crew of the Enterprise to underestimate how ruthless and power-hungry Khan really is. That the events take place in an AlternateTimeline should have no effect on this as Khan's time was centuries before the departure point.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

** [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied Norman Osborn killing Gwen Stacy]] just to hurt Spider-Man was bad enough but ''[[ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan Sins Past]]'' retcons the reason behind this action to being even more heinous. It is revealed that Norman had an affair with Gwen Stacy while both were in emotional turmoil - Gwen due to her father's death and Norman because of Harry nearly dying from a drug overdose. This affair resulted in Gwen giving birth to twins which aged faster than normal due to a mutation in the DNA they'd inherited from Norman. After killing Gwen, Norman found the twins, raised them as assassins, and poisoned their minds against Spider-Man making them believe he'd killed their mother.
** ComicBook/DoctorOctopus's first love was a woman named Mary Alice who later died of HIV. In ''Superior Spider-Man Team-Up'' Issue #11-12, it is revealed that [[spoiler: Norman Osborn]] was the one who infected her with HIV because he saw her as a distraction to Otto.

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]

** [[MadScientist Warren Mears]]. When he was introduced in season 5, he was an awkward nerd who made a robot girlfriend to cope with his loneliness, then ditched her upon finding a real girl. He was, at worst, obnoxious, cowardly, and a bit misogynistic. In season 6, however, he reappears and takes a deep dive into evil, being the worst member of [[EvilNerd the Trio]] and a [[CardCarryingVillain self-proclaimed Supervillain]] who becomes [[spoiler: an attempted rapist, nearly kills Buffy and ''actually'' kills Tara.]] No one ever remarks on his change, with Buffy treating him suddenly trying to kill her as not surprising in the slightest. Originally the writers had intended for him to be a lackey to [[TheSociopath Tucker Wells]], who unlike him (and Jonathan) had been truly malevolent in their introduction, but [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Well's actor was unable to reprise his role]] leading to Warren being drastically rewritten.

* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': Patrick Tyree the antagonist of "The House of Monkeys" is a cerebral [[AnimalWrongsGroup extreme animal rights activist]] who murders Doctor Eliot Strange by [[spoiler: sending him a self-titled letter laced with a powerful hallucinogenic that would infect him when he licked the seal]]. Come his return thirteen years later in "Daemons' Roost" he's now a huge, thuggish psycho whose plan for revenge against Jonathan is no more complicated than stalking and attempting to gut him and his wife with a knife. Likewise, Jonathan and Polly's reactions to simply hearing his name suggest he had always been like this.

* ''Series/{{Timeless}}'': Flynn, the main antagonist of Season 1, is presented as an international terrorist who attempts to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight undo several major historical events]] and casually murders several innocent people, sometimes for no reason. Come Season 2, the protagonists learn that Flynn did all that he did in an effort to defeat the true villain of the show, [[spoiler: the Rittenhouse organization.]] Flynn and the protagonists then join forces, and all of Flynn's past crimes are mostly swept under the rug. From that point on, Flynn is much less bloodthirsty, and some of the other characters even develop a close friendship with him.

[[folder: Theatre]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': In his introduction in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', its implied [[PredecessorVillain Professor Gerald Robotnik]] built the Eclipse Cannon as a WeaponOfMassDestruction either due to the loss of his granddaughter Maria driving him to insanity (or else he was mad even before her death); with the twist being he planned to destroy the Planet via crashing his space colony into it. Come ''Videogame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' its revealed the Cannon was in fact created for a good reason: to destroy the Black Comet - as Black Doom offered his blood for the creation of Shadow the hedgehog, in exchange for the Chaos Emeralds to conquer the planet.

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

[[folder: Web Animation]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'': When she's first depicted in the show's third season, [[FemmeFatale Lenore]], while initially seeming to be ALighterShadeOfBlack proceeds to [[spoiler: gaslight, dehumanize and abuse]] her prisoner Hector, [[spoiler: even having dubiously consensual sex with him and enslaving him via magic during the act before going on to declare that she will make him her full-time SexSlave.]] The fourth season, however, has Lenore and Hector on friendly terms, with Lenore being a SympatheticSlaveowner and the two of them seem to get along just fine. [[spoiler: The SexSlave bit is of particular note, as Hector seems not to have been abused and is in fact happy to make innuendos toward Lenore, implying that Lenore was bluffing.]] The fourth season ultimately [[{{Pun}} defangs]] Lenore's previously vile nature so much that [[spoiler: Hector saves her life from Isaac's invasion and she ends up killing herself in an AlasPoorVillain moment.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Kamp Krusty as a whole undergoes this in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS28E15KampKrustier Kamp Krustier]]". In the original "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty Kamp Krusty]]", the campers were treated genuinely cruelly, being forced to eat gruel, sleep in freezing barren shacks and manufacture wallets in what Lisa described as "a Dickensian sweatshop", with Mr. Black, the camp's owner, being a CardCarryingVillain who revels in his awful treatment of the kids. In "Kamp Krustier", despite the premise being their traumatised by the experience, the camp's actual cruelty and slave labour are forgotten about and the kids' bad memories of it are reduced to FauxHorrific PokeThePoodle offences like having to watch a bad production of ''Film/TheParentTrap'' with the one seemingly genuine trauma [[spoiler: a kid drowning trying to escape, turning out to be a mistake]], while Mr. Black is nowhere to be seen and never mentioned. Also, Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney are depicted as having taken part in the rebellion against the camp when in the original episode, they were the counsellors that the other kids were rebelling against following suffering their vicious abuse.

* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': From the third to fourth seasons, [[TheEvilPrince Prince Lotor]] is depicted as a NobleDemon who, while cold and often ruthless, prefers to take planets with minimal bloodshed, and whose evil paled in comparison to his father Zarkon. The fifth season has Lotor perform a HeelFaceTurn. The show's sixth season then reveals that Lotor [[spoiler: was performing horrific experiments on the surviving Alteans, all the while making their home a tribute to him due to extreme narcissism with his Quintessence-gathering being part of a plan to ''rewrite reality itself'' and wipe out the Galra Empire entirely.]] Thanks to these events, those who loved Lotor or at least respected him are horrified and feel betrayed, and [[spoiler: Shiro even mentions that Quintessence, previously framed as a corruptive source of power, only brings out WhatYouAreInTheDark to drive the point home that Lotor is viler than anyone could have predicted.]] The show then proceeds to re-retcon this in later seasons; while Lotor [[spoiler: is dead]], characters frequently express sympathy for him, and his WellIntentionedExtremist and TragicVillain traits are considerably emphasized.

** In a possible backstory before becoming the Joker, shown in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', he was shown to be a loving and caring husband and one of the key things that caused him to snap was the loss of his wife and unborn son and Creator/AlanMoore's [[https://joker-ka.tumblr.com/post/633177488181379072/pre-joker-wasnt-the-domestic-abuser notes ]] state he didn't think of the man Pre-Joker as abusive. ''ComicBook/BatmanThreeJokers'' presents this backstory as true for the "Comedian" Joker --and that he was indeed abusive to his wife, resulting in [[spoiler:her faking her death, so she could leave him and raise their son without him.]]

** The 1987 graphic novel, ''Son of the Demon'', had Bruce and Talia conceive a child. When Bruce nearly dies protecting her and the baby, Talia lies that she suffered a miscarriage and puts the baby up for adoption. When Grant Morrison integrated the events of this story into main continuity, he retconned Talia into drugging and raping Bruce to conceive Damian whom she raised with the intent of him taking over the League of Assassins.

Unlike TookALevelInJerkass, TookALevelInKindness, VillainDecay or MotiveDecay where their turn for the better/worse is (usually) presented as a development and acknowledged in-verse, in this case their past will be erased and everyone will act like they were always like this regardless of how much it contradicts their previous presentation.

* A frequent criticism of ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' was that the series treats Zedar, one of BigBad Torak's Disciples as unredeemable, even though it seemed apparent that he was under Torak's control and even though the series takes place in a universe where YouCantFightFate, and therefore his worst actions ''had'' to happen in order for the good guys to triumph in the end. David and Leigh Eddings thus [[AuthorsSavingThrow felt compelled to address this in the prequel]], ''Belgarath the Sorceror'', which reveals that Zedar was always arrogant and obsessed with power, even back when he was a Disciple of Aldur, and then he was the one responsible for driving Belmakor, a briefly mentioned Disciple of Aldur, to suicide.

[[folder: Web Original]]
* ''WebOriginal/BrigScarletFlamingo'': In the earlier version, the crew of the eponymous ship, whilst always [[AffablyEvil charming Corsairs]], suddenly becomes a ''lot'' more moral at the end of the first part. In particular: in the first chapters, their captain has to stand guard over the female passengers of plundered ships, but starting from around chapter fourteen, the whole crew suddenly completely agrees that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil. Especially noticeable is the case of Joseph: in chapter eight, he laments that he couldn't get his hands on a pretty girl like Yvonne, and in a prequel, written later but taking place weeks earlier, he admires her friendly, gentle personality as much as her looks and ceases all thoughts of even flirting with her when he finds out she is happily engaged. WordOfGod admits their plans for the story were altered mid-writing and they opted to write new chapters rather than revise the existing ones.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* ComicBook/{{Eclipso}}: After spending the first three decades as a C-list villain and the [[JekyllAndHyde dark half of Dr Bruce Gordon]], in the 1990's he was retconned as actually being the immensely powerful Spirt of God's Wrath (making him the EvilCounterpart to ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'', the Sprit of God's Vengeance). Initially it was claimed he was only pretending to be a minor threat to throw the heroes of guard, though later appearances this was forgotten and he was treated as always being a serious deal.

** [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied Norman Osborn killing Gwen Stacy]] just to hurt Spider-Man was bad enough but ''[[ComicBook/JMSSpiderMan Sins Past]]'' retcons the reason behind this action to being even more heinous. It is revealed that Norman had an affair with Gwen Stacy while both were in emotional turmoil - Gwen due to her father's death and Norman because of Harry nearly dying from a drug overdose. This affair resulted in Gwen giving birth to twins which aged faster than normal due to a mutation in their DNA they'd inherited from Norman. After killing Gwen, Norman found the twins, raised them as assassins and poisoned their minds against Spider-Man making them believe he'd killed their mother.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsTheRiseOfKyloRen'': In previous instalments, including ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' and ''Film/TheLastJedi'', it's stated that the night Kylo Ren fell to the Dark Side, he killed most of Luke Skywalker's other apprentices and left with the others, torching the Jedi Temple in the process. This comic prequel establishes that Kylo unintentionally [[AmbiguousSituation kinda maybe]] burnt down the temple [[note]] the incident is so vague that many readers thought Snoke [[spoiler:or Palpatine]] actually destroyed the temple, though according to WordOfSaintPaul this wasn't the intended interpretation [[/note]] and ''accidentally'' killed the students save for three; out of these apprentices he only murders one directly (one he killed accidentally in self-defense, the other was murdered by somebody else). Presumbly, this was to cast Kylo in a better light to set up [[spoiler:his HeelFaceTurn]] in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''.

[[folder: Live-Action Film]]
* ''Film/StarTrekInToDarkness'': Khan Noonien Singh is accused by Spock as having intended eugenics motivated genocide on all those he considered inferior during his reign. This contradicts his presentation as a benevolent dictator in his introduction in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", with it being stated that under his rule there were no mass killings and no wars that weren't started by other parties, his status even being a plot point as it causes the crew of the Enterprise to underestimate how ruthless and power hungry Khan really is. That the events take place in an AlternateTimeline should have no effect on this as Khan's time was centuries before the departure point.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The Sequel Trilogy does this with Ben Solo, aka [[DarthVaderClone Kylo Ren]]. ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' states that Ben's fall to the Dark Side involved him attacking his teacher Luke Skywalker, and leading the Knights of Ren in slaughtering all of Luke's other students. Then ''Film/TheLastJedi'' reveals his attack on Luke wasn't unprovoked. Luke had sensed the Dark Side within Ben and considered killing him just long enough to ignite his lightsaber, before thinking better and putting his weapon away--but that was still enough to make Ben think he was being attacked and lash out. (The movie mocks the idea that this sympathetic backstory absolves Ben of his later crimes. Upon learning about Ben's past, Rey becomes convinced she can redeem him, and this fails spectacularly.) Then the tie-in comics leading up to the release of ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' further absolved Ben Solo by revealing he didn't actually kill Luke's other students. The Knights of Ren did that without Ben's input, aided by a sudden thunderstorm (implied to be caused by Supreme Leader Snoke). Presumably this was done to make Ben's actual for-real redemption at the film's end more palatable to audiences.

* A frequent criticism of ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' was that the series treats Zedar, one of BigBad Torak's Disciples as unredeemable, even though it seemed apparent that he was under Torak's control and even though the series takes place in a universe where YouCantFightFate, and therefore his worst actions ''had'' to happen in order for the good guys to triumph in the end. David and Leigh Eddings thus [[AuthorsSavingThrow felt compelled to address this in the prequel]], ''Belgarath the Sorceror'', which reveals that Zedar was always arrogant and obsessed with power, even back when he was a Disciple of Aldur, and the he was the one responsible for driving Belmakor, a briefly mentioned Disciple of Aldur, to suicide.
* ''Literature/LandOfOz'': In the [[Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz second book]], its revealed the Wizard overthrew King Pastoria in order to rule Oz and gave away the infant Princess Ozma to an old sorceress. When he reappears in [[Literature/DorothyAndTheWizardInOz the fourth book]], it was retconned such that it was the Wicked Witches who did the evil deeds and all the Wizard did was rule Oz in the royal family's absence.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': In Thistleclaw's first appearances, he's simply a bit of a WarHawk who, despite his aggressive nature, truly loved his mate and son and was loyal to his Clan in his own way. Fans were surprised when he ended up in the [[{{Hell}} Dark Forest]], so the authors made a point of explaining why he'd be there: in later books taking place in the same time period, he was depicted training in the Dark Forest while alive and using the illegal moves he learned there, encouraging his apprentice to blind his own ''son'', calling his mate ?weak?, and not long after her death trying to persuade a she-cat younger than his son to be his new mate.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': Cavil is introduced at the end of season two as an AffablyEvil Cylon who whilst still a muderous KnightTemplar (like all Cylons), still comes across as friendly and even helps Tyrol come to terms with his psychological issues whilst undercover as a human. Come season three, he's now a vile, sociopathic piece of work who is suddenly torturing people and ordering mass executions at the drop of a hat, which gets to the point that [[EvenEvilHasStandards other Cylons call him out]] with no one remarking on this drastic change. Season four takes it even further by introducing major retcons that makes him the true mastermind behind the Cylons genocidal attack on humans and generally [[KickTheDog Kicks The Dog]] as much as possible, doing utterly horrific things like gouging out his father's eye and then raping his mother out of spite.
* ''Series/{{Blindspot}}'': In his first appearance, whilst still [[BewareTheSillyOnes goofy and fun loving]], Rich Dotcom is presented a [[FauxAffablyEvil falsely charming]], somewhat creepy criminal mastermind who casually executes one of his own loyal henchmen on the spot for an apparent failure, and is even described by [[TheSmartGirl Patterson]] as one of the most dangerous men alive. Come all subsequent appearances (before his HeelFaceTurn) and he's presented as a [[AffablyEvil genuinely friendly]] wise cracking hedonist who's crimes are centered in cerebral trickery and avoids violence at all costs, with no one ever remarking on this change. No doubt his unexpected popularity (leading to his [[BreakOutCharacter drastically increased role]]) led to this softer characterization.

** [[MadScientist Warren Mears]]. When he was introduced in season 5, he was as an awkward nerd who made a robot girlfriend to cope with his loneliness, then ditched her upon finding a real girl. He was, at worst, obnoxious, cowardly and a bit misogynistic. In season 6, however, he reappears takes a deep dive into evil, being the worst member of [[EvilNerd the Trio]] and a [[CardCarryingVillain self-proclaimed Supervillain]] whom becomes [[spoiler: an attempted rapist, nearly kills Buffy and ''actually'' kills Tara.]] No one ever remarks on his change, with Buffy treating him suddenly trying to kill her as not suprising in the slightest. Originally the writers had intended for him to be a lackey to [[TheSociopath Tucker Wells]], who unlike him (and Jonathan) had been truly malevolent in their introduction, but [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Well's actor was unable to reprise his role]] leading to Warren being drastically rewritten.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': Season 1's "The Fox" saw the team facing [[PsychoPsychologist Karl Arnold]], a family annihilator who took families he considered dysfunctional hostage, forced them to treat him as the head of the household for three days before killing them. He's presented as living out a fantasy (his own family leaving him due to his obsessive compulsive behavior) and killing them in the end due to subconsciously understanding it can't last. Come his return in season 5's "Outfoxed" Arnold is now also a pedophile who sexually abused the children he took prisoner and its stated his crimes were purely sexually motivated.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': This trope hit Sabalom Glitz bad in his third appearance. In his first two appearances, both during the "The Trial Of A Time Lord" arc, he was a LoveableRogue and DirtyCoward who was there mostly for comic relief. However, in "Dragonfire", he still has the same ''characterization'', but is stated to have sold his crew into [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slavery]] and [[AllThereInTheManual in supplemental materials]] to have potentially committed statutory rape upon Ace. The role was originally written for a completely new more ruthless character (a SpacePirate Razorback) but John Nathan-Turner opted to bring him back as Glitz was popular leading to the jarring inconsistences.
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': Patrick Tyree the antagonist of "The House of Monkeys" is a cerebral [[AnimalWrongsGroup extreme animal rights activist]] who murders Doctor Eliot Strange by [[spoiler: sending him a self titled letter laced with a powerful hallucinogenic that would infect him when he licked the seal]]. Come his return thirteen years later in "Daemons' Roost" he's now a huge, thuggish psycho and who's plan for revenge against Jonathan is no more complicated than stalking and attempting to gut him and his wife with a knife. Likewise Jonathan and Polly's reactions to simply hearing his name suggest he had always been like this.

* ''Series/NewTricks'': Whilst [[ArchEnemy Ricky Hanson]]'s vicious personality and [[LondonGangster criminal nature]] is consistent throughout all his appearances, in Season 4's "Casualty" when breaking into a hospital to kill [[TheLancer Jack Halford]] whilst he's recovering from his injuries, to get to him whilst he's sleeping Hanson attacks the nurse on duty, with their being a clear shot of her lying facedown unconscious or dead, before he attempts to suffocate Jack. Yet when Hanson goes to trial for the events in season 5's "Spare Parts" the entire affair with the nurse is completely forgotten about with not even the heroes bringing it up, enabling Hanson to lie about his intentions and get off due to lack of impartial witnesses.

* ''Series/SilentWitness'': Nikki Alexander's father Victor was a minor recurring character between season 11 and season 15 where he's presented as a deadbeat schemer, cheat and a gambler, who is responsible for costing their family everything forcing them to leave South Africa and abandoning them when Nikki was a child. In the present he is a remorseful man who wants to reconnect with his daughter but can't overcome his old bad habits right up until his death. Come season 23's "Seven Times" he's suddenly a vicious brute who [[DomesticAbuse regularly beat Nikki's mother]] whilst they were together, despite nothing like this even being hinted before especially in the many times Nikki [[CallingTheOldManOut called him out]]. Handwaved as Nikki being to young at the time to recognize the signs and only realizing it now due to similarities to the case. Although for several fans this was still hard to swallow, especially considering the number of other cases she'd handled that involved domestic abuse before this one (and the number of explicit flashbacks the episode showed).

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The Ferengi go through several versions of this during the shows run, mostly due to initial plans for them to be the shows main antagonists falling through.

*** In their first appearance "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E4TheLastOutpost The Last Outpost]]" the Ferengi are effectively caricatures for the worst parts of humanity (to contrast with how advanced and enlightened the crew of Enterprise are) and presented as manic, vicious greedy warriors, who are openly hostile and hell bent on attacking the crew then looting the corpses. Following it being realised they were no where near intimidating enough to work in this role, later episodes switched to presenting them as, whilst still potentially dangerous and obsessed with greed, an overall cowardly race who only attacked when they clearly had the upper hand, and who's tactics leaned towards deception, subterfuge and illegal activities.
*** Come ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' the Ferengi were completely reimagined as a ProudMerchantRace who's only focuses are on economic pursuit and profit (albeit with not [[CorruptCorporateExecutive many moral scruples]]), with Quark outright boasting that the Ferengi had never engaged in active warfare during their entire existence, instead using their economic skills to force any opponents into making a quick (and often highly profitable) deals. With not even [[TheEngineer Chief O'Brien]] (who was aboard the Enterprise and involved in several Ferengi attacks) ever calling him out the discrepancy.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Joran, the secret former host of the Dax symbiont, whilst always a murderer and presented as psychologically unstable, in his origin "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E04Equilibrium Equilibrium]]" he was a regular killer with only one victim, someone he had a motive to kill. In all his later appearances he has more victims and is full-blown deranged, with even Quark somehow knowing it. To the point that Ezri summons him to help her get an insight into the mind of psycho when there is a SerialKiller loose on the station.

** In season 3's "The Kids Are Alright" upon being prompted to investigate them by Ruby, Sam discovers that [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils Azazel]] had his [[FamilyExtermination mother's family, the Campbells, massacred]] to the point where he can't find any members who are still alive. Come season 6 and suddenly their are quite a lot of living Campbells, with them being able to pull together at least a dozen or so members, and at least two being specially stated to be the brothers third cousins. At no point does either brother ask how they survived or even bring up the massacre.
** In "Are You Their God Its Me Dean Winchester" the VengefulGhost of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Victor Henriksen]] claims that Lilith slowly tortured him and all the other innocent officers to death after Sam and Dean left them in the police station, specially mention one poor women she brutally flayed before his eyes. However, whilst very much in character for [[{{Sadist}} Lilith]], when we saw the event play out in the previous seasons "Jus In Belo" she simply blew up the building they were in, killing everyone instantly.

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'': In season 1, Veronica investigates the circumstances around the night she was raped and confronts [[spoiler:Cassidy Casablancas]], one of her initial main suspects. He admits that his BigBrotherBully tried to pressure him to do it, but he couldn't go through with it. This is accepted, with him just being secondary character who is quickly dismissed from the investigation and has no further role in the plot. Come season 2, and [[spoiler:Cassidy]] is [[{{Revision}} revised]] to now be the calculating BigBad of the season who is the mastermind behind several murders. With Veronica randomly realizing that he was lying to her before and really did rape her, all delivered in a single line.

** ''Manga/MetroidManga'': Building upon the first example specifically has Ridley murder Samus's mother, and was the cause for her father's sacrifice. Not only that, many years later Ridley kills Gray Voice, Samus's adoptive parent. The manga is stated as canon, thus later instalations such as ''Videogame/MetroidOtherM'' and ''Videogame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' would openly acknowledge Ridley as responsible for leaving Samus an orphan and killing her parents, giving them [[ItsPersonal a deep connection]] for their enemisty.

--->'''Palutena''': Ridley killed Samus parents when she was young.

* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'': Lemres goes through this during the instalments despite not appearing until the sixth instalment. In the fifth instalment, Ocean Prince's transformation from a prince to a fish is first explained as the result of a curse against his will. However, when Lemres is introduced in the sequel as the wizard who did it, the prince says he asked to be transformed so he can escape his princely duties, lessening Lemres's responsibility (though he's aware that turning someone into a fish is not something that is praised). In the later series, his backstory is expanded to reveal that he never liked being a dark mage, and seeing the prince happy with his transformation made him realize that he wants to bring happiness to others with his magic.

* ''WebOriginal/BrigScarletFlamingo'': In the earlier version, the crew of the eponymous ship, whilst always [[AffablyEvil charming Corsairs]], suddenly becomes a ''lot'' more moral in the end of the first part. In particular: in the first chapters, their captain has to stand guard over the female passengers of plundered ships, but starting from around chapter fourteen, the whole crew suddenly completely agrees that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil. Especially noticeable is the case of Joseph: in chapter eight, he laments that he couldn't get his hands on a pretty girl like Yvonne, and in a prequel, written later but taking place weeks ''earlier'', he admires her friendly, gentle personality as much as her looks and ceases all thoughts of even flirting with her when he finds out she is happily engaged. WordOfGod admits their plans for the story were altered mid-writing and they opted to write new chapters rather than revise the existing ones.

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'': When she's first depicted in the show's third season, [[FemmeFatale Lenore]], while initially seeming to be ALighterShadeOfBlack proceeds to [[spoiler: gaslight, dehumanize and abuse]] her prisoner Hector, [[spoiler: even having dubiously consensual sex with him and enslaving him via magic during the act before going on to declare that she will make him her full-time SexSlave.]] The fourth season, however, has Lenore and Hector on friendly terms, with Lenore being a SympatheticSlaveowner and the two of them seeming to get along just fine. [[spoiler: The SexSlave bit is of particular note, as Hector seems not to have been abused and is in fact happy to make innuendos toward Lenore, implying that Lenore was bluffing.]] The fourth season ultimately [[{{Pun}} defangs]] Lenore's previously vile nature so much that [[spoiler: Hector saves her life from Isaac's invasion and she ends up killing herself in an AlasPoorVillain moment.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' During the Fox seasons, Fry's parents were depicted as quite cold and emotionally abusive, with his father berating him and his mother ignoring him in favor of sports. When Fry initially learns he'll never see his family again in the pilot, he ''cheers.'' Even when Fry's mom says she misses him in a flashback, she also remarks that all his "crap" is still in the house. The first movie and episodes in the later Comedy Central seasons depict Fry's experiences with his family as much happier. "Cold Warriors" still depicts Fry's dad as harsh, but gives him the excuse of trying to toughen Fry up through tough love. "Game of Tones" is much more sentimental, as Fry gets to relive the last time he saw his family and has such a lovely time that he doesn't want to leave them, especially his mother. At the end, Fry [[spoiler:ends up in his mother's dream, and it's made more obvious that she still loves him]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Kamp Krusty as a whole undergoes this in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS28E15KampKrustier Kamp Krustier]]". In the original "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty Kamp Krusty]]", the campers were treated genuinely cruelly, being forced to eat gruel, sleep in freezing barren shacks and manufacture wallets in what Lisa described as "a Dickensian sweatshop", with Mr Black, the camp's owner, being a CardCarryingVillain who revels in his awful treatment of the kids. In "Kamp Krustier", despite the premise being their traumatised by the experiance, the camp's actual cruelty and slave labour is forgotten about and the kids' bad memories of it are reduced to FauxHorrific PokeThePoodle offences like having to watch a bad production of ''Film/TheParentTrap'' with the one seemingly genuine trauma [[spoiler: a kid drowning trying to escape, turning out to be a mistake]], while Mr. Black is nowhere to be seen and never mentioned. Also Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney are depicted as having taken part in the rebellion against the camp, when in the original episode, they were the counsellors that the other kids were rebelling against following suffering their vicious abuse.

* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': From the third to fourth seasons, [[TheEvilPrince Prince Lotor]] is depicted as a NobleDemon who, while cold and often ruthless, prefers to take planets with minimal bloodshed, and whose evil paled in comparison to his father Zarkon. The fifth season has Lotor perform a HeelFaceTurn. The show's sixth season then reveals that Lotor [[spoiler: was performing horrific experiments on the surviving Alteans, all the while making their home a tribute to him due to extreme narcissism with his Quintessence-gathering being part of a plan to ''rewrite reality itself'' and wipe out the Galra Empire entirely.]] Thanks to these events, those who loved Lotor or at least respected him are horrified and feel betrayed, and [[spoiler: Shiro even mentions that Quintessence, previously framed as a corruptive source of power, only brings out WhatYouAreInTheDark to drive the point home that Lotor is viler than anyone could have predicted.]] The show then proceeds to re-retcon this in later seasons; while Lotor [[spoiler: is dead]], characters frequently express sympathy for him and his WellIntentionedExtremist and TragicVillain traits are considerably emphasized.

----
Indexes: WritingPitfallIndex, {{Retcon}}