History Main / ThePenance

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has one example of the "authority stigmatizes someone" variety, however it was only touched upon briefly. Strax, at the start of the episode A good man goes to war is a nurse which is the ultimate punishment for [[ProudWarriorRace Sontarans]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has one example, however it was only touched upon briefly. Strax, at the start of the episode A good man goes to war is a nurse which is the ultimate punishment for [[ProudWarriorRace Sontarans]].

* In the ChivalricRomance ''Gowther'' and ''Robert the Devil'', the main character lives as TheJester and puts up with endless abuse as penance for his sins.

** Beside the Ecclesiarchy, many institutions turn offenders into a servitor as a common punishment for crimes deemed particularly egregious, but not heinous enough to warrant a death sentence or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse-than-death sentence]]. Getting servitored usually entails extensive and invasive cybernetics placed at least in the brain, sometimes with a {{lobotomy}} thrown into the deal for good measure. All servitors are little more than {{Empty Shell}}s devoid of peronsality or sentiment, and used mostly as a robotic labor drone. Note that most servitors are vat grown rather than an legion of petty criminals ([[CrapsackWorld we think]]).

* ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'': Occurs in [[Recap/Doraemon1979E1759SoapBubbles "Soap Bubbles"]]. Big G hits himself with a frying pan after he feels guilty about blaming Noby for his graffiti. Later on, Tammy tries, but fails to shave her head for being a bad mother.

* Renner Lightburn in ''Literature/RavenorVsEisenhorn'' is a Curst, a type of penitent which lives in poverty and carries out any task asked of them, symbolically taking on another’s burden to atone for their own sins. They write their crimes on their skin in ink as a visual representation of the burdens they carry: Lightburn’s crimes cover most of his body. His current burden is taking Beta to Mam Mordaunt. He reveals his original crime near the end of the book: [[spoiler:as a temple guard, he gave shelter to a scared teenage girl being chased by a mob, unaware that she was an unsanctioned psyker]].

* Catholicism still recommends some sort of mild punishment as another way to observe Lent (let's say for example, depriving oneself from his or her favourite dessert or TV show or wearing very modest clothing).
** That's not punishment, that's spiritual preparation - basically, like being TheHermit, only [[DownplayedTrope toned down]] for everyday practicality.
** After going to Confession, Catholics are also assigned a small penance as atonement for their sins. It's usually prayer, but can also be an action, such as almsgiving or doing one's least favorite chore.

A trope in which a character does something to mark himself and/or inflicts pain upon himself in order to [[TheAtoner atone for a misdeed]]. It is usual physical in nature and can range from cutting and burning, to choking and bruising, along with many, many other methods.

* In ''Literature/OwenArcher'' series, the healer and wisewoman Magda Digby [[ThirdPersonPerson always refers to herself in the third person]]. In ''A Vigil of Spies'', she reveals that it's ThePenance for her youthful arrogance when she refused to heal someone, believing them to be "unworthy". Even since then, she used "Magda" instead of "I" as a way to remind herself that she is only a vessel for her powers. Though Thoresby absolved her of guilt in the same book, she continued to speak like that because it had become an important part of her personality.

* Everyone in ''VideoGame/{{Blasphemous}}'' seems obsessed with pain and injury as penance for sin. Fittingly, making the Penitent One cut themself to trade Health for Fervor is a game mechanic, and the artbook states their sword (named Mea Culpa) is intended to be painful to wield.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', after [[spoiler: Kevin]] is killed, Dean allows himself to bear [[TheCorruption the Mark of Cain]] out of guilt for causing Kevin's death. [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Drastic]] [[CameBackWrong consequences]] [[FaceHeelTurn ensued.]]

* The epilogue of the ''Fanfic/TheVow'' has an involuntary example. [[spoiler:Following the defeat and [[SparedByTheAdaptation apparent death]] of Lord Shen, he's taken in by his wife Lady Lianne. Knowing that he'd be executed or imprisoned for life by the higher authorities if he were ever found alive, Lianne plays on her right as the Lady of the Shēnghuó Province and Shen's former prisoner to punish him as she sees fit and forces Shen to vow that he remains confined in [[GildedGage the Shan Palace]] for the rest of his life. This is her way to see that her husband and the father of her son pays for his crimes and doesn't leave her side again.]]

[[Fan Works]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic episode'' "Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep?", Princess Luna is revealed to [[spoiler:have created the [[EldritchAbomination Tantabus]] to continuously turn all of her dreams into nightmares as a self-induced punishment for her stint as [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]]. [[GoneHorriblyRight This backfires horribly]] when it decides Luna's dreams alone are not enough...]]

* TruthInTelevision: many RealLife societies have inflicted punishments such as branding, tattooing, severing of limbs, etc., all for the purpose of stigmatizing criminals. Some still do.

A trope in which a character does something to mark himself and/or inflicts pain upon himself in order to [[TheAtoner atone for a misdeed]]. There is also an involuntary version where the state or some other authority stigmatizes someone in this way. Compare with EmbarrassingTattoo whose serious versions have some overlap with this.

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', The Confessor is a sort of Batman expy with clerical motifs who is a vampire and in life was a priest. He did something evil once and so as penance wears a crucifix even though as a vampire it causes him pain.

* For a non-voluntary example, the Remade of ''PerdidoStreetStation'' and other books in that universe.

* The book ''{{Atonement}}'' ''is'' this trope - Briony writes the book after she grows up to attempt to atone for her sins.

* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': At one time Miles Vorkosigan sentenced an infanticide to have her property rights stripped away and be considered legally dead as an alternative to hanging. The book seems to have some pity for her as she was caught offguard by changing times, but nonetheless she clearly deserved it and it was necessary to give a sharp reminder that disabled people were not to be killed out of hand anymore.

* The Arbiter from ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' does this. After being held responsible for the destruction of the titular setting in the first game, he's branded with a mark of shame in the involuntary variety.