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If the character shows the ability to be redeemed as a person after the moment, the moment was not a Moral Event Horizon, which requires the character be marked irredeemable by the act.
Think of it this way: Being irredeemable isn't necessarily the same as being pure evil. What it means is that once a character crosses the Moral Event Horizon, that's it, they can't ever go back and convince the audience they're good after the fact. It's a combination of how the work portrays the character and how the audience perceives the character. Doing "good things" is nice and all, but if Jerry, say, murdered an entire orphanage in cold blood, those good deeds aren't likely going to redeem him.
Edited by WarJay77 Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Ok because ive always been confused by moral event horizons, i always feel they are subjective
I mean... they are. But if a good majority of fans believe that Jerry can never be redeemed after what he did, then he crossed the MEH.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
So even if someone crossed the MEH, genuine actions they commit in the future is null?
Look at it this way: Let's say Alice and Bob both commit the same deed during the course of the story and blow up a train of innocent people. Alice, after this, keeps on going down her path and becomes a supervillain, only occasionally stopping to Pet the Dog, but never showing genuine remorse- fans see her as a villain and maybe even as a Complete Monster. Bob, however, is wrecked with guilt at what happens and becomes The Atoner, spending years working to become a better person, and eventually becomes the hero trying to stop Alice.
Alice crossed the Moral Event Horizon, but Bob, who showed the capability to be a better person despite this, did not.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
If a character is redeemed, it means that they had never crossed the Moral Event Horizon in the first place and that any supposed MEH example is invalid.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Yeah, I feel like MEH is constantly thrown around to mean "the most evil action the villain does, and all villains who don't redeem themselves must have one shoehorned because it's YMMV and someone will agree" as opposed to "the moment where the villain is beyond redemption".
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That's what I was trying to say, though you guys said it better than I could, and admittedly my example could've been better.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Your Alice and Bob example was a good way of illustrating why Moral Event Horizon ends up subjective despite objective elements of the work. Murder/kidnapping can sometimes be a MEH, but it really depends on the work deciding to show that the character cannot be redeemable.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
I have a question about the MEH: In Interdimensional Cable 2 in Rick and Morty, Jerry Smith, one of the main characters crosses it when he tried to weasel his way out of his penis and then took Pibbles hostage when it made him look bad. So my question is does this mean that Jerry is forever evil in future episodes that date pass this episode? Even if he has good moments?
Edited by Birdy18