A nice butterfly
Depending on how one defines a "Redemption" it varies if saying Grommash Hellscream´s case in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is one of this Trope. He is described as having submitted voluntarily (twice) to drinking Demon Blood because it promised him power.
The context upon which he dies, is that he is brought to Mannoroth (The demon who corrupted and empowered him) by his friend Thrall. His decision to come along was not his own, but by Thrall´s incentive. When they arrive, his friend attacks alone. Grom Hellscream does not attack Mannoroth until after Mannoroth has taunted him, enraging him enough to attack. He dies in his attack. His last words to the friend who had brought him there were "Thrall. The blood haze has lifted. The demon's fire has burnt out in my veins. I... have... freed... myself.".
In short, his actions definitely redeemed the mistake he made of dooming his own clan (Although, the previous chapters were all about other heroes: Jaina and Thrall, having captured him and forcibly cleansing him and some of his clan through other means). But in his very own mind, actions and words, he does not seem to have understood that one could do things for someone else other than himself, or for other reason than violence for its own sake.
On the larger spectrum of things, he took out Cenarius, a being who the Demons feared should they be pitted against him, doing them a huge favor.
Edited by 201.192.4.238 It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
The following are Zero Context Examples and need more information.
- Sailor Moon (anime only): Neflite (Nephrite), Prince Diamond, Sapphire, and the Amazon Trio.
- The Trio get better though. Sorta; they get to go to the world of dreams rather than outright pass away.
- How just about every villain in Rave Master bites it. It's almost impossible to do a Heel–Face Turn without sacrificing yourself.
- In Astro Boy this happens to Pluto in all of his incarnations.
- This happens to Mitsumi in Pokemon Diamond And Pearl Adventure, though she didn't really die.
- Played 100% straight in Blood Diamond.
- Godzilla has Mecha-King Ghidorah, Battra and Kiryu.
- Lampshaded in Fantastic Mr Fox with Rat's death.
- William Easton in Saw VI.
- Will Smith's Tear Jerker Seven Pounds.
- General Lord Militant Noches Sturm in Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series. Eventually.
- Speaking of Dickens, played straight in A Tale Of Two Cities with Sydney Carton.
- Doctor Who
- Done incredibly well in "Dalek". Only time I have ever felt sad about a Dalek's death...
- Done earlier with Yvonne in "Doomsday".
- Jack. He gets better, though.
- Pops up all over the place in Farscape. Crais and Talyn are perhaps the most notable example.
- Shane Pierce in Harpers Island.
- If you get the I've Come Too Far response from Aribeth in Neverwinter Nights, this trope results.
- In the Walking Dead Game is building up to this with Lee having been bitten by a Walker and now Clem is kidnapped.
- Happens to Ghaleon in Lunar: Eternal Blue. However, this trope is completely averted in the case of the other four heroes.
- Morgan Le Flay in Tales of Monkey Island: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood.
- Grom Hellscream in Warcraft III.
- Ace Attorney. "Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death." It turns out that he was just doing a bit of soul-searching.
- One quote from Xenoblade Chronicles sums up this trope quite well, "They will judge me not in life, but death!"
The following violate our Weblinks Are Not Examples policy
- German Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
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- Possibly this man
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I suggest Darth Vader's Redemption Equals Death is actually a subversion - is it really dying when he gets to become an apparently content, 'more powerful than you can possibly imagine' force ghost? And in many people's eyes, he seemed a lot less redeemed when he unregretfully chopped up a room full of children in Revenge Of The Sith.
Edited by Psyga315 Hide / Show Replies
The reaction of the audience is totally irrelevant in objective tropes, and the story portrays Vader as redeemed. And, as the "ghost" in force ghost hints, he really died.
Do characters who aren't villains-turned good, but rivals-turned-friendly count too? I'm thinking Tsu'tey from Avatar. He spends the whole movie making life difficult for Jake. Then, once Jake has his full respect, I just KNEW "Tsu'tey is gonna die now." To the characters it may be a fundamentally different thing in that Tsutey had no real guilt he needed to redeem himself for etc. But dramaturgically the two are quite similar "Now that we don't need the guy as an antagonist anymore, we remove him from the story."
Therkla didn't have a "redemption"; she might have done something net-evil by not going with Kubota's plan, but she did it entirely for selfish reasons, i.e., she wanted to boink Elan, and she was still trying to let the clear villain, who was fully intending to kill an unborn child, get away. Redemption isn't just "does something vaguely in opposition to the villain," it's a total turnaround of a character from bad to good, for good reasons.
Does it count if somebody else dies? I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Fred Weasley dies pretty soon after his brother Percy reconciles with the family. Is this an example?