History Main / TheIrredeemableException

''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'': At the end of the movie, all the Bergens learn they can be happy without eating trolls, except Chef, who insists on eating trolls being the only way to be happy.

''WesternAnimation/Trolls'': At the end of the movie, all the Bergens learn they can be happy without eating trolls, except Chef, who insists on eating trolls being the only way to be happy.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has a very diverse cast with the first season having [[TheBully Amity Blight]], [[CainAndAbel Lilith Clawthorne]] and the enigmatic [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]], with more villains appearing. By the end of the first season (More or less), Amity has her FreudianExcuse uncovered and becomes one of Luz' friends [[spoiler:And eventually her girlfriend]], and Lilith mends her relationship with her sister. The only ones who don't get redeemed is Belos and the Coven Leaders that condoned the Day of Unity (Among them Amity's [[AbusiveParent horrible mother]]). Over the series Luz learns that Belos is secretly colonial era witch hunter Philip Wittebane, who killed his own brother for falling for a witch, and spent centuries as a SerialKiller and a con artist, before building up his empire...Just to have all witches with a Coven Sigil be killed on the Day of Unity so he can be hailed as a hero of humanity. Luz struggles with the notion of there being good in him, but when she meets the ghost of the Titan, who has watched over the island made from his corpse the entire time, flat out says that Belos is just a Narcissist who is obsessed with [[IRejectYourReality rejecting reality]]. Understanding this, Luz refuses to acknowledge or save Belos when the highly acidic rain melts him down, with the people most hurt by him crushing his bones just to make sure he stays dead.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has a very diverse cast with the first season having [[TheBully Amity Blight]], [[CainAndAbel Lilith Clawthorne]] and the enigmatic [[BigBad Emperor Belos]], with more villains appearing. By the end of the first season (More or less), Amity has her FreudianExcuse uncovered and becomes one of Luz' friends [[spoiler:And eventually her girlfriend]], and Lilith mends her relationship with her sister. The only ones who don't get redeemed is Belos and the Coven Leaders that condoned the Day of Unity (Among them Amity's [[AbusiveParent horrible mother]]). Over the series Luz learns that Belos is secretly colonial era witch hunter Philip Wittebane, who killed his own brother for falling for a witch, and spent centuries as a SerialKiller and a con artist, before building up his empire...Just to have all witches with a Coven Sigil be killed on the Day of Unity so he can be hailed as a hero of humanity. Luz struggles with the notion of there being good in him, but when she meets the ghost of the Titan, who has watched over the island made from his corpse the entire time, flat out says that Belos is just a Narcissist who is obsessed with [[IRejectYourReality rejecting reality]]. Understanding this, Luz refuses to acknowledge or save Belos when the highly acidic rain melts him down, with the people most hurt by him crushing his bones just to make sure he stays dead.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'', Wander, being the AllLovingHero that he is, reforms pretty much every villain he comes across. Even resident BigBad Lord Hater has his redeeming moments. However, the one glaring exception is Lord Dominator, who becomes the biggest threat to the galaxy in season two. She does leave the galaxy in the end, but not before calling everyone "a bunch of dorks".

* Two examples from the ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' franchise:

* ''Manga/EdensZero'' has its fair share of villains all over the morality scale, and major arc villains will generally be unrepentant monsters that the heroes need to overcome...in normal timelines. When the protagonists get the opportunity to jump to a much kinder ultimate universe, most of the villains (even the warlord Draken Joe and the megalomaniac Shura) get the chance to be much better than they were in previous timelines. The lone exception to this is Doctor Muller, a MadDoctor who gleefully experimented on two children for his own selfish interest and is outright willing to endanger robotkind.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', the {{Big Bad}}s are almost always either [[HeelFaceTurn redeemed outright]] or go unredeemed while still having [[FreudianExcuse tragic backstories]] that make you understand them and positive traits such as [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes love for others]]. That is, ''except'' for Peter Pan, who [[spoiler: is just a selfish manchild who abandoned his child to make a DealWithTheDevil to gain eternal youth, always resented said child because he irrationally blamed him for his wife's supposed death which saddled him with the responsibility of parenthood, and is gleefulyl willing to manipulate, hurt or kill anyone, even his own family members, to get what he wants.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', almost all of the Akumatized villains show themselves to be nice (or [[{{Jerkass}} not nice]], but not in the "[[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery set Paris ablaze]]" way) people who were pushed over the edge and subsequently BrainwashedAndCrazy...the sole exceptions being [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugLilaRossi Lila Rossi]] and [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugChloeBourgeois Chloe Bourgeois]] ([[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom who's also often the cause of said akumatizations in the first place]]), who expose themselves as [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Jerks with a Heart of Jerk]] by ''willingly'' accepting being akumatized. The chief difference between them is that [[spoiler: Lila is revealed to be just one of many identities of someone who was already a supervillain prior to ever being akumatized, whereas Chloe is a regular person who just [[RedemptionRejection stubbornly refuses to change her ways.]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', almost all of the Akumatized villains show themselves to be nice (or [[{{Jerkass}} not nice]], but not in the "[[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery set Paris ablaze]]" way) people who were pushed over the edge and subsequently BrainwashedAndCrazy...the sole exceptions being [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugLilaRossi Lila Rossi]] and [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugChloeBourgeois Chloe Bourgeois]] ([[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom who's also often the cause of said akumatizations in the first place]]), who expose themselves as [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Jerks with a Heart of Jerk]] by ''willingly'' accepting being akumatized. The chief difference between them is that [[spoiler: Lila is revealed to be just one of many identities of someone who was already a supervillain prior to bein akumatized, whereas Chloe is a regular person who just [[RedemptionRejection stubbornly refuses to change her ways.]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', almost all of the Akumatized villains show themselves to be nice (or [[{{Jerkass}} not nice]], but not in the "[[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery set Paris ablaze]]" way) people who were pushed over the edge and subsequently BrainwashedAndCrazy...the sole exceptions being [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugLilaRossi Lila Rossi]] and [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugChloeBourgeois Chloe Bourgeois]] ([[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom who's also often the cause of said akumatizations in the first place]]), who expose themselves as [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk Jerks with a Heart of Jerk]] by ''willingly'' accepting being akumatized.

* ''VideoGame/BlueArchive'' has Beatrice. While most of the villains in the game are either too comedic, too tragic, are too detached from reality itself or have redeeming qualities, Beatrice is one of the vilest villains to ever come out from a waifu gacha, taking [[BreakTheCutie breaking the cuties]] to extremes by [[[spoiler:turning the students of Arius into horrific, heartless killers through frequent abuse. At the end, she even seeks to sacrifice Atsuko to ascend to godhood]]. It tells when the other members of [[spoiler:Gematria decide to execute her when they find out she's working with the Chroma.]]

* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'': [[EnfantTerrible The Warriors of Hope]] are all established to be [[AbusiveParents horrifically abused by their families]] to the point that [[DrivenToSuicide they once planned a group suicide]], and all of them are eventually treated sympathetically by the narrative and become allies of the Future Foundation by the end. That is, except for Monaca, who boasts about having no intention of going through with her companions' SuicidePact, is the most gung-ho about continuing to spread the ideals of the [[NebulousEvilOrganization Ultimate Despair]], and is openly condemned by both the protagonists and her own former ally.

* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'': [[EnfantTerrible The Warriors of Hope]] are all established to be [[AbusiveParents horrifically abused by their families]] to the point that [[DrivenToSuicide they once planned a group suicide]], and all of them are eventually treated sympathetically by the narrative. That is, except for Monaca, who boasts about having no intention of going through with her companions' SuicidePact, is the most gung-ho about continuing to spread the ideals of Ultimate Despair, and is openly condemned by both the protagonists and her own former ally.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendaArceus'': Of the antagonists, [[spoiler:Commander Kamado]] just wanted to protect his village and makes up with you, the Miss Fortune gang never poses a serious threat and even are said to help people sometimes, and [[spoiler:Giratina]] lets go of its revenge crusade and becomes a protector of space time. [[spoiler:The merchant Volo]], however, is a GodhoodSeeker who just wants to selfishly destroy and remake the world InTheirOwnImage, and simply flees when defeated, swearing revenge.

In settings that veer strongly towards idealism on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, good and evil clash but evil rarely stays that way for long. Most villains there aren't truly all wicked, and with the right words and the right person to coax out their latent sympathies, even the most seemingly monstrous of people can be turned into good.

* It is standard in each ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' game to have one major villain be sympathetic and earn a degree of redemption while another is too far gone.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'': Unlike his DiscOneFinalBoss counterpart Egil, Zanza, the game's true BigBad, never shows any remorse for his actions [[spoiler:indeed, according to the sequel, his remorse is trapped in another plane of existence]] and the party feels no hesitation or sympathy in taking him down.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Every member of the terrorist group Torna is allowed some measure of humility and sympathy before they are slain, with Rex and company ultimately lamenting each of their fates. Amalthus on the other hand, while still permitted some empathy, is still concluded to be well beyond redemption by the time the party takes him down.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Sets up Z to be this as his nature is slowly revealed throughout the game, with the party making the attempt and even successfully reaching several of his servants. [[spoiler: Subverted because Z is not actually human and has no sense of free will, he is a computer program ultimately JustFollowingOrders.]]

Except ''THIS'' character. No matter what the hero says, no matter if there's no chance of winning, no matter if so many other characters who've done worse things have managed to come to the light, this {{Jerkass}} will never turn to good for as long as they live. As such, this trope often overlaps with RedemptionRejection. Expect EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes to apply to this character. If they are bad enough, they will likely be a CompleteMonster as well.