Redemptions Equaling Death in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Ace Combat: The Equestrian War: Played straight in Axe's case, but averted for Black Star.
- In the The Bridge spin-off Shimmer in the Dark, Countess Mircalla intended this to be the case and made peace with her end. She'd pulled a Heel–Face Turn, destroyed the bomb threatening Canterlot, ensured the Nightmare Army was no more and Nightmare Moon could never return, and kept Mizu from harming Sunset Shimmer. She gives Sunset Shimmer a silver sword and tells her how the death of Sunset's mother was an Accidental Murder, but she doesn't expect forgiveness. Sunset Shimmer decides there had been enough bloodshed and forgives her.
- Existence Is the Most Exciting Thing of All: Mateo was secretly working for the Magisterium, sent to investigate Night Vale and eventually assassinate Carlos. However, they sacrifice their life saving Fleur, as well as trying to save Brad.
- In Fractured, a Mass Effect/Star Wars/Borderlands crossover, the Siren Lilith, having become addicted to Psycho Serum, realizes what a mess she is after one insult too many from her deranged commander. She asks for (and receives) help from the heroes, culminating in her piloting a doomed ship on a deliberate collision course with Pandora's north pole in the hopes that a chain-reaction combining her Siren powers with Eridium will defeat the Reapers once and for all. It works, at the cost of Lilith's life, though that doesn't stop her from becoming a bit of a Spirit Advisor later, in Origins.
- Ninja of Santoryu
: Kiba acts like an asshole for the first part of the story, only to mellow out once Naruto saves his life from the Akatsuki, even gaining a love interest. He's then unceremoniously killed off by Shou Tucker in battle. - In The Weaver Option, Major-General Gorgias was one of the most incompetent officers forced on Taylor during Operation Caribbean by the Munitorum, with a long track record of failures and no mitigating circumstances. This was so well-known, in fact, that during the invasion of Commorragh the Dark Eldar assassins who gutted his division's leadership specifically left Gorgias alive to ensure no competent leader took over. With the Imperial forces about to rout and cripple the offense, Gorgias rallied a few thousand troops around a crippled tank and proceeded to hold off a Biel-Tan offense for nearly an hour, giving the rest of the forces time to rally. Gorgias himself fought to the end with a heavy flamer, personally killing eight Eldar before dying.
- The Wild Horse Thesis: During the Final Battle of End of Evangelion, Ritsuko takes a bullet for Misato, dying instantly. Even knowing all of the things Ritsuko did as Gendo's subordinate, Misato can't bring herself to hate her anymore.
- Parodied in XSGCOM. When Jonas Quinn dies and is brought back to life, O'Neill fires off a quip about this.
- The Dark Knight fanfic Legend sees the Joker capture Officer Anna Ramierez (demoted after she helped the mob capture Rachel Dawes) with the intention of torturing her on live television to admit that Batman never killed anyone. However, Ramierez instead claims that she committed the murders, and the Joker starts hitting her again before the camera cuts out, and a search of her apartment after her body is found reveals fake evidence supporting her story. While she is condemned as a villain in the eyes of the public, those who know the truth about her sacrifice vow to always judge Ramierez by what she sacrificed to atone for her mistake, with Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne each attending her funeral (Gordon directly and Bruce discreetly).
- Initially, What If Raditz Turned Good? ended with Raditz giving his life to protect the Z Warriors from Nappa and Vegeta. Later, when the series continued, the Namek Saga features Goku wanting to head there specifically to wish him back to life along with Chiaotzu.
- Barley's final act in The Tainted Grimoire was to try and save Cid. Ewen had him killed for that.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): In the finale, King Ghidorah's left head goes rogue against the other two, eviler heads, and he dies helping the heroes to kill the three-headed dragon and put an end to their menace once more.
- Wish Carefully: An unnamed clerk from Hogwarts who supported Voldemort's takeover comes to realize just how horrible his reign is. After trying in vain to convince others to address the burgeoning issues while they still can, he ensures that his grandchild is able to escape Wizarding Britain safely, at the cost of his own life.
- Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race: Neptune decides to turn against Sunstar, aiding Mega Man and Duo in their fight, but ultimately succumbs to their own injuries.
- A Breach of Trust: Gimcrack manipulates Ritsu into becoming a Willing Channeler for him and several other spirits. Over time, however, Gimcrack grows sincerely attached to the kid, starting to worry about his wellbeing... and then Ritsu exorcises him.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Daylight Burning: Towards the climax, after Princess Luna recovers from her injuries and retakes command, Shield Banner realizes how thoroughly he was made the Nightmare's stooge, how many ethical lines he crossed based on flawed reasoning, and that this was ultimately all due to his own ethical failures. It is also stated that he will not be keeping command of the Guard and that Celestia will be furious with him once they get the Nightmare out of her mind. Shortly thereafter, after a few in-universe hours of stewing over his actions, he dies in a Heroic Sacrifice to save Fluttershy's life.
- Equestria: A History Revealed: The rebellious General Thunderhide receives a sort of redemption before his death in explaining his motives in the Fillydelphia Trials. His death was hinted to be purposefully set-up to be suspicious even if Celestia had nothing to do with it, possibly to ensure his own martyrdom.
- The Immortal Game: Minor character Coconut Crunch only joined the Royals because she honestly believed that the Loyalists had no chance of defeating Titan. When she's captured by the Mane Six and realizes that Twilight Sparkle is still alive, she quickly defects... and by the end of the chapter is brutally killed by General Esteem.
- Misunderstandings: Ferris fully atones for having previously worked for Big Top by taking a crossbow bolt in order to protect Peter from their former employer.
- A Growing Affection: After Orochimaru takes over his body, Sasuke eventually regains control just long enough to buy Naruto the time he needs to land a fatal blow.
- your move, instigator (draw your weapon and hold your tongue): Sarutobi Hiruzen sacrifices themselves in a final gambit to scuttle Danzo's plans. Played With in that Sakura isn't sure whether this is actually a case of Death Equals Redemption or not; while many of the older shinobi believe that the Sandaime was a good person who'd lost their way as the Third Shinobi War dragged on, Sakura only knew them as somebody who signed off on making her and so many others Child Soldiers, and who ignored the costs right up to the end, only to go out making a Sudden Principled Stand out of seemingly nowhere.
- Subverted in the Star Trek (2009) fanfic Flight of the Condor. The fugitive Richard Beckwith is killed saving Edith Keeler's life. However, Keeler later becomes involved in World War II, changing who lives and who dies, causing Earth to be populated by different people for the next three hundred years, preventing the existence of the Federation and the Enterprise.
- Logan and his minions sans Beljar in The End of Ends.
- Total Drama Legacy: Well, Redemption Equals Elimination. Nero's Heel–Face Turn is finalized in "Wild Kat", the episode in which he gets eliminated, and Emilia has her Heel Realization after placing last in the fencing challenge (which ensures that she'll be the one who's eliminated that night) in "She Who Lives By the Sword…".
- The Beast Wars fic Eternal Life concludes with Dinobot sacrificing himself to destroy Rampage after exposure to a fragment of Rampage’s spark corrupted him into a killer like Rampage. As the survivors of the Beast Wars head home, Rattrap has a vision of Dinobot, Rhinox and Silverbolt, who affirm that Dinobot has been forgiven as the other deceased Maximals recognise that Dinobot wasn’t himself when he killed them.
- In Turning Red: Secrets of the Panda, during the Traintop Battle, Howard Mitchell fires at Jason, trying to take him down and protect Mei and Xia. However, Mei accidentally takes a step back and knocks him off the top of the train and onto the tracks below.
