Fair warning: many of these occur at the end of a work, so spoilers may be unmarked. Tread carefully.
Last-Second Chances in Literature.
- In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian story "The Phoenix on the Sword", Conan appeals to Rinaldo, the idealist among his assassins to give it up.
- The Dresden Files: Skin Game:
- Nicodemus specifically has the Genoskwa distract Michael as Deirdre sacrifices herself because he knows Michael would offer Deirdre the last-second chance, and — in her final moments and facing a Fate Worse than Death — she might actually accept.
- Michael offers this to Nicodemus after they break into Hades' vault, pointing out that Nicodemus' pursuit of power has cost him the one thing that can never be replaced: Deirdre, his daughter and lover, and the one person who truly loved him, whom he had to sacrifice to get through the Gate of Blood. It's also the reason Karrin doesn't believe she's fit to be a Knight of the Cross, as the Knights must always allow their targets to seek redemption if they are willing, and Murphy believes that truly evil people deserve to be punished.
- The Grapes of Wrath has an odd example, when Jim Casy tries to talk a strikebreaker into switching sides because the strikers can't afford any more wage cuts. Said strikebreaker bashes his head in.
- Harry Potter: Harry, naturally, gives Voldemort the "last chance to feel remorse" speech before a Wizard Duel because Harry knows what will happen to him after death if he doesn't mend his soul. It isn't death he's trying to save him from. Unsurprisingly, however, Voldemort rejects this chance because to him, death is the worst thing ever.
- The Lord of the Rings: Gandalf offers one to Saruman in The Two Towers, and while Saruman actually considers it seriously for a while, his overwhelming pride and jealousy of Gandalf make him ultimately refuse. And then he gets offered another one toward the end of The Return of the King.Galadriel: Saruman, we have other errands and other cares that seem to us more urgent than hunting for you. Say rather that you are overtaken by good fortune, for now you have a last chance.
Saruman: If it be truly the last, I am glad, for I shall be spared the trouble of refusing it again.- In The Silmarillion, Maedhros and Maglor receive one from Eönwë, after they, being the last surviving sons of Fëanor, demand the remaining Silmarils from him. Eönwë tells them that they no longer have any right to the Silmarils, and gives them a chance to return to Valinor and be judged by the Valar for their crimes. Maglor wants to go and tries to persuade Maedhros, but Maedhros refuses, and in the end persuades Maglor to go along with his plan to steal the Silmarils from Eönwë. Needless to say, it doesn't end well for either of them.
- The Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne, title character, gets one against a passive-aggressive villain, just after he's had his epiphany.Chillingworth: Thou hadst great elements. Peradventure, hast though met earlier with a better love than mine, this evil had not been. I pity thee, for the good that has been wasted in thy nature!
Hester: And I thee, for the hatred that has transformed a wise and just man into a fiend! Wilt thou yet purge it out of thee, and be once more human? - In the Dale Brown novel Shadows of Steel, Madcap Magician attempt to persuade Admiral Tufayli to surrender so that he and his men can be treated and released. The other guy doesn't bite.
- Subverted in A Song of Ice and Fire when Theon Greyjoy is offered the opportunity to be conscripted into the Night's Watch as an alternative to being executed after his botched invasion of Winterfell. He considers the offer, but his acceptance of it is interrupted by the invading Bolton army, who drag him away to a much worse fate.
- Star Wars Legends:
- In Dark Rendezvous, Yoda travels to meet with Count Dooku, his former pupil, to negotiate an end to the Clone Wars. Dooku tells Yoda that what started out as an idealistic crusade has gone horribly wrong and that he's in over his head, and Yoda offers to let Dooku return home to the Jedi Order. Darth Sidious, however, gets wind of what's going on, and playing off Dooku's dislike and jealousy of Anakin Skywalker, sends none other than Anakin and Obi-Wan to go "help" Yoda. When battle breaks out between Dooku's guards and the two younger Jedi, Dooku assumes that Yoda brought them along as reinforcements and feeling rather betrayed, he flees the scene.
- In Darth Bane, one of Bane's former comrades from his days in the Sith Army reaches out to him and tries to get him to turn away from the path of the Sith. It almost seems like it will work, and for a brief moment Bane is Dessel again. His own apprentice Zannah kills his comrade to stop it, and the moment passes.
- New Jedi Order: In Destiny's Way, at the end of the Battle of Ebaq-9, Luke tells General Iblis to offer the tattered remnants of the Yuuzhan Vong fleets the opportunity to surrender. Iblis points out they'll never take it, and will fight to the death (or if captured commit suicide). Luke says they have to try anyway. All the Vong die.
- In the last book of The Wheel of Time, Rand offers his Arch-Enemy and Evil Counterpart Moridin a final chance to, for once in his life, do the right thing. Moridin will have none of it. Cue final duel.
- Lanfear also gets one of these. It actually looks like she seriously considers taking it for a moment, but of course she doesn't. Cue Neck Snap. There's more than a bit of Alas, Poor Villain about this one.
