History Main / RedemptionQuest

* ComicBook/BlueDevil in ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'' is assigned a RedemptionQuest by the Catholic Church, to make up for selling his soul for fame in ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'' - which led to the death of his friend Marla - and also to try and counter the FamilyUnfriendlyAesop of a guy who sold his soul and subsequently gained demonic power being a high-profile superhero. [[spoiler:It later turned out the Church couldn't do anything to help him... after he completed all the quests.]]

* Villainous and thus {{inverted}} example: the driving force behind all Dimension of Pain stories in ''WebComics/SluggyFreelance'' is Lord Horribus seeking redemption for letting Torg escape, by hauling Torg's soul back to the demons' dimension for eternal torment. The "redemption" theme is mentioned explicitly in "That Which Redeems", which also features another similarly inverted example bordering on [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] in the form of a story (which presented as an analogy to Horribus) of a man who came to a HeelRealization about his terrible deeds, turned to a local notion of {{God}} to seek redemption, and went on a crusade in God's name to commit even more terrible deeds. "That which redeems consumes."

* The Game of Thrones fanfic ''Fanfic/ABalladOfTheDragonAndSheWolf has one for Lord Glover. He is one of the first to volunteer on a mission to fight the Dead, which he does in penance for his past refusal to aid Jon and Sansa against the Boltons. [[spoiler: Glover's mere participation redeems him in Jon's eyes, but when they get overwhelmed by wights Glover volunteers to [[HeroicSacrifice stay back and fight them off so the rest of the party can escape safely]].]]

* ''Fanfic/HopeForTheHeartless'' is about [[Disney/TheBlackCauldron the Horned King]] being [[ResurrectedForAJob released]] from [[AndIMustScream the Black Cauldron]] by [[CosmicEntities the Fates]] for a period of 18 months so that he can earn his one and only chance to be free from the Cauldron by [[ImpossibleTask earning a human's love in spite of all his sins]].
* Very common in ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' fanfiction like ''FanFic/FrozenHearts'' and ''FanFic/AMarriageOfConvenience'', where [[spoiler: Prince Hans]] goes to great lengths to seek forgiveness from Anna and Elsa for his actions in the film. This was brought about by rumors of this happening in the actual sequel.

* In ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'', Iago was the loud-mouthed henchman for [[BigBad Jafar]] who went along with his plans to conquer Agrabah. In the sequel, ''Disney/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'', Iago leaves his master's side and fakes a HeelFaceTurn to gain Aladdin's trust. Howeever, Iago [[BecomingTheMask grew to like Aladdin and his friends]] since they didn't mistreat him they way Jafar did, enough that he reforms and helps them defeat Jafar for good. He remains with the group as their TokenEvilTeammate for the rest of the ''Aladdin'' franchise.

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Paranorman}}'' looks like a typical zombie invasion triggered by a witch's curse [[spoiler: until it's revealed that the zombies recognize that they've done something horrible and are putting themselves through a great deal of pain in order to find someone who can help the "witch" they killed (really an innocent 11 year old girl) to move on]].

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* ''Series/{{Brimstone}}'': This is the entire premise of the show, where FallenHero Ezekiel Stone gets a second shot at life and a way out of Hell if he returns 113 souls that managed to escape.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** After returning to King's Landing, Jaime is making more of an effort to live up to his vows and duties as a Knight, telling people who consider him a failure and has-been that he still has time left. More specifically, while Catelyn didn't intend for it to be his redemption quest, seeing him as beyond redemption, after losing his hand and growing close with Brienne, Jaime shows a sincere desire to want to return Catelyn's daughters back to her. After Catelyn's death, he sends Brienne to keep them protected from Cersei and anyone who might hurt them.
** To some extent, Jorah's loyalty and commitment to Daenerys is driven by his need to atone for souring his honor in Westeros and initially spying on Daenerys.
--> '''Jorah:''' Better men than me have learned that what a man sells for gold, he can never buy back. He must earn it, by fire and blood.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s Michael has a redemption arc in season 4 after [[spoiler:killing Ana and Libby]] in season 2. He manages to [[spoiler:save Desmond, Aaron, Sun, and [[strike:maybe]] Jin before [[RedemptionEqualsDeath dying]] in the season finale.]]
* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': What happens with the Olesons' two natural children – Nellie and Willie – in the later years of the series.

* Sam Winchester from ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. After breaking the final seal which unleashed the apocalypse on Earth, Sam spends all of Season 5 by trying to fix the mess he created. Season 5 is often viewed as Sam's redemption by many viewers.
* Stefan Salvatore from ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''. After becoming a blood-addicted Ripper who was controlled by Klaus for the first half of the third season, Stefan spends the other half of the third season trying to gain his free will back and turn on his humanity again. He tries to redeem himself for all of the immoral acts he committed during his Ripper phase by joining the fight in destroying Klaus.
* ''Series/TheEqualizer'': A retired secret agent becomes a private investigator to help people who really need it. His past is never revealed, it's only hinted that he did a lot of amoral things.
* Basically the premise of ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': Earl did bad things, has a list of them, and is trying to make up for them.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' revival, it's suggested from his debut story "Deep Breath" onward that the Twelfth Doctor is trying to find ways to atone for the mistakes of his past incarnations. At the top of Series 9 (his second season) this trope is exaggerated when a new tragic mistake, a moment of weakness (though understandable), of his has cataclysmic consequences: [[spoiler: When he realizes a trapped boy in a war zone is the future creator of the Daleks, the worst villains in the universe, he abandons him mid-rescue -- possibly triggering the boy's descent into evil to begin with]]. When's he's called to face the person originally affected by this, the Doctor is ready to do so by way of facing the consequences and perhaps atoning for it, fully aware that it will probably be a case of RedemptionEqualsDeath.

-->'''Coulson''': My team? Y-you... You are not, nor will you ever be, on my team. You dropped Fitzsimmons out of a plane. You murdered Victoria Hand and Eric Koenig. You betrayed every one of us, you deluded son of a bitch!

* This sums up the character arc of (former) Commander Michael Burnham in season 1 of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''. In the first episode, she commits mutiny against her captain in a desperate attempt to head off a war with the Klingons; despite her efforts, the war starts, her captain is killed and her ship wrecked in the ensuing battle, and she is court-martialed and imprisoned. Six months later, Captain Gabriel Lorca arranges for her to end up on his ship, USS ''Discovery'', and enlists her to help bring an end to the war. Through a long and convoluted series of events (which include her [[spoiler: exposing Lorca as an imposter from the MirrorUniverse]]), she succeeds in stopping the war before Earth is attacked, for which she is pardoned and reinstated.

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%% * The Light Side path of ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', after TheReveal.
%% ** The Light Side path of the entirety of the sequel.

** Barristan Selmy considers his service to Danareys Targaryen to be atonement for failing to protect her father, Aerys Targaryen, during Robert's Rebellion. This is a downplayed example though, since Aerys's death wasn't his fault and he is blaming himself out of guilt. Eventually, he begins to come around to believe that Jaime may have been correct to kill Aerys, and desires to serve a ruler truly worthy of serving.

* In ''Fanfic/AKnightsTaleAsInquisitor'', Arturia very much views her journey as the Hearld of Andraste and saving Thedas from its [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed most recent crisis]] as [[MyGreatestSecondChance her chance to succeed where she failed Camelot]].

** Initially inverted when Prince Zuko's EvilOverlord [[AbusiveParents father]] banished him for not being evil enough, with a hopeless Redemption Quest being Zuko's only means of ending that banishment. Zuko's true redemption quest then comes when he realizes how worthless the redemption his father offered is and instead pulls a HeelFaceTurn in season 3.

* Sami Callihan claimed he would go on one to better himself after being suspended from EVOLVE and Wrestling/DragonGate USA, following his attack on [[Wrestling/SamiZayn El Generico]].

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' serves as this for Eddy; first, he is forced to confront and admit the fact that his selfish and jerkass tendencies are unhealthy and at risk of costing him the only two friends he has, and then he admits to ''everyone'' in the Cul-de-sac that the only reason he acts like a jerk is because his brother did, and he thought that his brother was "cool" and "respected" by the other kids when in actuality they were just afraid of him, and that if he acted like his brother, then [[IJustWantToHaveFriends the other kids would like him.]] Once the illusion falls off, he's finally accepted and forgiven by the other kids.

* [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow]] serves as this for Eddy; first, he is forced to confront and admit the fact that his selfish and jerkass tendencies are unhealthy and at risk of costing him the only two friends he has, and then he admits to ''everyone'' in the Cul-de-sac that the only reason he acts like a jerk is because his brother did, and he thought that his brother was "cool" and "respected" by the other kids when in actuality they were just afraid of him, and that if he acted like his brother, then [[IJustWantToHaveFriends the other kids would like him.]] Once the illusion falls off, he's finally accepted and forgiven by the other kids.

Maybe they're being asked to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, or to cure TheVirus, or to stop the EvilOverlord. [[RedemptionEqualsDeath They may not be expected to live through this]], but if they can pull it off no one can say that they haven't cleared their name, regained their honor, or insured an afterlife in good old FluffyCloudHeaven. (That said, you may wind up with a case of RedemptionEarnsLife instead.)

** Several of Tarnum's quests force him to confront the fallout of his own past tyranny, such as a Barbarian cult that worshipped a distorted image of Tarnum himself as the Barbarian Tyrant and freeing the people whom he enslaved in the past (setting them up as a SlaveRace to others). The last entry of the ''Chronicles'' series has his past as the Barbarian Tyrant haunt him once more in the form of one of the rivals seeking the Sword of Frost: Kija, the wife of the new AxCrazy Barbarian King Kilgor whom considered to be the final fruition of the example he set for his people as the Barbarian Tyrant. Kija ultimately claims the Sword of Frost for Kilgor, with world ending consequences.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': After returning to King's Landing, Jaime is making more of an effort to live up to his vows and duties as a Knight, telling people who consider him a failure and has-been that he still has time left. More specifically, while Catelyn didn't intend for it to be his redemption quest, seeing him as beyond redemption, after losing his hand and growing close with Brienne, Jaime shows a sincere desire to want to return Catelyn's daughters back to her. After Catelyn's death, he sends Brienne to keep them protected from Cersei and anyone who might hurt them.