Basic Trope: A character looks for redemption after committing a disastrous deed.
- Straight: Bob, a Tragic Villain, goes on journey to find redemption after causing a bombing that killed his friends and relatives.
- Exaggerated:
- The Omnicidal Maniac Bob goes on journey to find redemption after causing an Inferred Holocaust.
- Bob goes on journey to find redemption across the galaxy after causing planet Earth's destruction.
- Bob started off as a simple not-so-popular lackey for the Big Bad, but later gains Incorruptible Pure Pureness and gets adored by the entire universe.
- Downplayed: Bob hurts his girlfriend's feelings, so she moves out to the other side of the state. He drives to go visit her and win back her affections. On the way, he buys presents for her and helps her mom clean out the garage.
- Justified: Bob is The Atoner after asking himself My God, What Have I Done?
- Inverted:
- A villain looks to restore their bad name after committing a good deed.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain
- Subverted: Alice kills Bob and has to track down and deliver his final words to his family, only to kill them one by one.
- Double Subverted: Alice kills Bob and has to track down and deliver his final words to his family, but kills them one by one. However, it turns out that Bob's family contracted Alice to kill Bob, and her redemption is bringing justice to them.
- Parodied: Alice jaywalks and devotes herself to a life of self sacrificial missions in an attempt to cleanse herself of her misdeeds.
- Zig Zagged: Alice kills Bob, and sets off to find and apologize to his family, only to kill them one by one. It turns out the family contracted her to kill Bob, and she's enacting justice on them. However, Bob was a villain and his family consisted of heroes, and Alice was contracted to bring *Bob* to justice.
- Averted: Alice kills Bob, and goes on her merry way.
- Enforced: Bob's misdeeds are too immoral for him to get away with in a family-oriented TV show, so he has to demonstrate remorse.
- Lampshaded: "Well, I just caused the death of an innocent bystander. I guess I'll spend the next few months on an angsty road trip to try and find forgiveness or justification for my actions."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Bob lets Alice kill him, knowing that his death will motivate Alice to seek redemption.
- Defied:
- As soon as Bob is dead, Alice is seized and Dragged Off to Hell while a demon possesses her body until death. She has no chance to feel remorse, let alone attempt to atone for her wrong.
- Alice hardens her heart so she feels no guilt for what she has done.
- Discussed: Alice talks about how she's trying to find Bob's family in an attempt to be forgiven for killing him.
- Conversed: Alice and Bob talk about most heroes are trying to find redemption for some past mistake.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice kills Bob and tracks down his family to deliver his last words. The reactions of the family only serve to reinforce that Alice is a horrible person, and at the end of it all Alice has received no closure at all.
- No matter whose forgiveness Alice earns, she is never able to forgive herself, and so her quest for redemption spirals out of control into a self-destructive obsession with atonement and self-punishment that eventually destroys her.
I know you have been a terrible Troper so far, but there's still hope! You just need to start a Redemption Quest
